Design

Bill McDonough, Reel to Reel

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The information spread a few months ago: director Steven Spielberg is planning a movie (a theatrical documentary) about pioneering green architect William (Bill) McDonough, BMcDonough his work, and his “Cradle to Cradle” vision of absolute sustainability — which Bill detailed in a 2002 book (written with Michael Braungart) and explained at TED2005 (watch his speech) and is now trying to apply everywhere, from the Googleplex to new Chinese cities.

But while Spielberg is thinking, actor Leo Di Caprio sped past, presumably in his Prius: inspired (like Spielberg) by Al Gore‘s “An Inconvenient Truth“, Di Caprio has produced “The 11th Hour“, an eco-doc about humans creating the conditions for their own demise by destroying nature. The movie debuted at the last Cannes Film Festival; premiered in New York and Los Angeles a few days ago (read the NY Times review); and it’s released across the US and Canada today (Europe and the rest of the world will have to wait). Among the academics, designers, entrepreneurs and other experts that appear in the film, narrated by Di Caprio, is Bill McDonough.