Don't Look Up (2021)
- Many of the practical effects used in the climax were achieved without any CGI.
- Adam McKay originally wanted a completely different ending for the film, but test audiences preferred the one we see today.
- Before Leonardo DiCaprio was cast, several major A-list stars turned down the lead role because they felt the script was too risky.
Don't Look Up is a 2021 American satirical black comedy directed by Adam McKay. Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence star as Dr. Randall Mindy, a mild-mannered astronomy professor, and Kate Dibiasky, his graduate student, who discover a comet on a direct collision course with Earth that will cause an extinction-level event in approximately six months.
Their attempts to warn the world are met with political indifference from President Orlean played by Meryl Streep, media trivialization by talk show hosts played by Cate Blanchett and Tyler Perry, and corporate exploitation by a tech billionaire played by Mark Rylance who wants to mine the comet for rare minerals rather than deflect it. Adam McKay's allegory for climate change denial was delivered with the subtlety of a sledgehammer β deliberately so, as McKay argued that the real-world response to existential scientific warnings warranted nothing less. The film's ensemble cast was staggering, also including TimothΓ©e Chalamet, Jonah Hill, Ariana Grande, and Rob Morgan.
Critical reception was sharply divided between those who found its didactic approach cathartic and necessary and those who felt it was smug and heavy-handed. Don't Look Up earned $773 million in equivalent viewership on Netflix and received four Academy Award nominations including Best Picture.
