SERIES – In 2006, Scott Z. Burns produced the shocking documentary An inconvenient truth by Al Gore. 17 years later, it is through a series of fiction that he hears ” raise awareness on the impact of our actions today on climate change. Series Extrapolationsin 8 episodes, is available from this Friday March 17 on AppleTV+ with the backing of an XXL cast: from Tahar Rahim to Sienna Miller, via Edward Norton, Meryl Streep or Marion Cotillard.
Huge forest fires that cause toxic fumes, major floods… The series starts in 2037 and yet it describes a daily life that many countries, including France, have been experiencing for some time. Then as the episodes advance to 2070, the temperature on the globe increases and the “extrapolations” – based on what science says about the future consequences of climate change – multiply.
In 2046, ocean acidification caused the death of all but one of the planet’s whale populations. In 2047, the inhabitants of Miami have their feet in the water one day out of four and there are 23 million climate refugees. In 2059, “eco-terrorists” adept at geo-engineering send several tons of calcium carbonate into the atmosphere to cause the Earth to cool.
« The things that take place in the first episode are happening somewhere on earth almost every day of every year today “, evokes for Le HuffPost the creator of the series, in a video interview to discover at the top of this article. « But each episode is an opportunity to look closely at some aspect of climate change and to tell ourselves that, if we don’t make different choices, this is what our future will look like. »
« we are the problem »
For actor Tahar Rahim, who embodies two different characters in this series whose episodes are not all related to each other, fiction rather than documentary ” involves a form of writing ” which allows “ the viewer to identify, to feel things, to be emotionally involved » : « I think it’s a sublime way to be able to raise awareness on a subject that is more important than anything, which is our home. We only have one. »
« The responsibility rests on our shoulders and I hope viewers who watch this series will feel that responsibility through empathy, storytelling, and bonding with the characters. And it will cause change “, completes the actress Indira Varma (who we saw in Luther or Game of Thrones).
Through the trajectories of its many characters, who live in Tel Aviv, London or Bombay, the series tends to recall, as the researcher embodied by Edward Norton (American History X, Moonrise Kingdon), that it is ” we humans are the problem “. Without forgetting that beyond the individual actions of each, it is also on governments and industrial groups that the power to take decisions with a major impact rests.
« What we want to show are the different levels of society says producer Dorothy Fortenberry. ” There are those who have powers that have a major impact on this problem, and those who try, despite all the limits placed on them, to make things right. »
“If we continue like this, it will happen”
Extrapolations is not science fiction, Tahar Rahim and Indira Varma, for example, prefer to speak of ” science non-fiction ” or of ” anticipation series ». « That doesn’t mean it’s bound to happen, but if we keep it up, it will. “, explains the Frenchman.
The scriptwriters of the series have throughout the writing called on experts of the climate crisis to imagine realistic representations of our future. ” We looked at where we are today, then what science tells us about the future consequences of climate change, and then we explored what tends to remain constant in our humanity. “, describes Scott Z. Burns.
The choice of the date of the beginning of the series, 2037, is not a coincidence. ” We wanted it to be far enough in the future to imagine new possibilities, but not too far for viewers to think they wouldn’t experience it and walk away. After all, climate change is slowly creeping on until the day it burns down our house. ».
And if these 8 episodes (the first three are posted this Friday, March 17, then one each following Friday) which leave little room for hope can trigger eco-anxiety in some, it was a risk to take for its creator. ” There isn’t a single problem on Earth that I know of that can’t just be solved with hope. The actions that many people take require a lot of courage, and these trajectories require much more of us than just hope. ».
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