Podcaster Joe Rogan spoke to director Mike Judge recently about the legacy of his movie “Idiocracy,” saying Judge nailed “the dumbing down of people” in his dystopian comedy from 2006.
During Spotify’s “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast Wednesday, the host spoke with the writer and film director about the things he got right about the future. Rogan said that looking at the state of things in 2022, the director only missed one thing in his assessment about the future — phones and social media. It starts at the 1:26 minute mark here.
“And it’s so interesting, looking at the world in 2022,” the podcaster explained. “It’s like the only thing you missed was social media.”
Judge agreed and said, “I keep thinking about all the stuff I missed.” He also noted how he felt as though the movie was cursed from the start, saying that “everything that could go wrong” did — including shooting the film in Austin during what was supposed to be a drought, but ended up being the “rainiest summer” in the city.
The director said he came up with the idea in 2001, looking at the approach of futuristic sci-fi movies showing a “pristine, advanced civilization.” Judge decided to flip that idea as he looked at things like “The Jerry Springer Show” and “giant Walmarts,” and wondered if humans went the other way.
“Like more crass, foul-language in the mainstream,” the director explained. “More like just everybody getting dumber and dumber, advertising everywhere.”
At one point, the creator of the animated television series “Beavis and Butt-Head” said he wished he could remake the movie and said he would definitely include a lot more shots of people on their phones.
“I probably would have had more staring at phones and stuff,” Judge shared.
“That’s the only thing you missed though,” Rogan replied. “Dumbing down of people [in the future], you nailed.”
The two also talked about some scenes in the film that Rogan said stood out. The host spoke about “the very smart couple that’s holding off on having children,” while the dumber people just keep having sex. Judge joked that he felt like he “made the whole movie” just for that sequence.
A description of the 2006 film, per IMDb, reads, “Private Joe Bauers, a decisively average American, is selected as a guinea pig for a top-secret hibernation program but is forgotten, awakening to a future so incredibly moronic he’s easily the most intelligent person alive.”