Netflix has debuted the official first teaser for Adam McKay’s upcoming comedy “Don’t Look Up,” and it’s a reminder that it’s by far and away the most star-studded film in recent memory. The cast is headlined by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence, playing two low-level astronomers forced to travel around the U.S. to warn the population that a giant meteor is heading straight towards the planet and will destroy it. The two Oscar winners are joined by (hold your breath) Meryl Streep, Jonah Hill, Rob Morgan, Ron Perlman, Timothée Chalamet, Ariana Grande, Kid Cudi, Mark Rylance, and Cate Blanchett.
McKay wrote the character of astronomer Kate Dibiasky for Jennifer Lawrence, and the “Silver Linings Playbook” Oscar winner got the first read of the script. The Oscar winning writer behind “The Big Short” had long wanted to work with Lawrence.
“I’ve known Jen for awhile,” McKay said earlier this year when asked how he landed two of the biggest A-listers in Hollywood in the same film. “One of the first meetings she ever did in Los Angeles after her first movie was with me when she was like 17 years old, maybe 18 years old. She worshipped ‘Step Brothers,’ so when her agent asked who she wanted to meet…they prob weren’t happy to hear the answer: the guy who did ‘Step Brothers.’”
DiCaprio was a different story, as McKay never thought a muse of Martin Scorsese would sign up for one of his movies. “It turns out he really loved the script,” McKay said. “We went back and forth on it. It was about a four-to-five month process with us just kicking around ideas. We took a break for the quarantine, and lo and behold once we figured out a theoretically safe way to shoot this movie, he was in. I couldn’t believe it. It’s no surprise he’s fabulous in the movie.”
McKay continued, “He’s really funny. Really grounded. It’s a great mix and it was perfect with Jen Lawrence, who is the same way. She’s crazy funny but grounded. When you had those two as our main people, the style of the movie was set.”
“Don’t Look Up” will open in select theaters on December 10 and stream on Netflix December 24. Watch the official teaser for the end-of-the-world comedy in the video below.
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