Netflix film Don’t Look Up has one of the starriest casts of the year – and that’s no exaggeration! The sci-fi comedy follows a pair of astronomers who are trying to warn humanity that a comet is hurtling towards Earth and counts Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Cate Blanchett, Ariane Grande and Timothée Chalamet among its stars. If that’s not enough, Meryl Streep plays indifferent US President Janie Orlean (move over Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris!), while Jonah Hill is her groveling son and Chief of Staff, Jason Orlean. They have just six months before the Earth is wiped out!
So here’s everything we know about Netflix's equally tense and darkly funny movie Don't Look Up…
'Don't Look Up' release date
Don't Look Up makes its streaming debut on Netflix on Friday, Dec. 24 (aka Christmas Eve) as part of Netflix's Christmas TV offering.
Is there a 'Don't Look Up' trailer?
Yes a Don't Look Up trailer has been released by Netflix which certainly ramps up the comic elements behind the disaster movie. The trailer begins with Leonardo DiCaprio's Dr. Mindy frantically taking some huge gulps of air, no doubt worried by his astronomical findings. Also, look out for the many star names who'll be appearing throughout the movie...
'Don't Look Up' plot
In Don't Look Up, Leonardo Di Caprio and Jennifer Lawrence are almost unrecognizable as low-level astronomers Kate Dibiasky and Dr. Randall Mindy, who make a shocking discovery that a comet is on a direct collision course with Earth.
Unfortunately, nobody seems to believe them, or care, so their only hope is to go on a massive media tour (helped by Dr. Clayt Oglethorpe, played by Rob Morgan), which even takes them to the offices of the US president Janie Orlean (Meryl Streep).
They also get onto the airwaves of The Daily Rip, an upbeat morning show hosted by Brie (Cate Blanchett) and Jack (Tyler Perry), and start getting attention on social media. But with only six months until the comet makes impact, can they get the world to wake up before it’s too late?
'Don’t Look Up' cast — who’s starring?
Anyone who’s anyone seems to be among the star-studded cast of Don't Look Up, including four Oscar winners!
Jennifer Lawrence, best known for X-Men, American Hustle and The Hunger Games, plays an astronomy grad student Kate Dibiasky in her first major movie since 2019’s X-Men: Dark Phoenix.
"Kate’s a truth teller" says Jennifer Lawrence. "So when she tries to tell this news to the rest of the world and is met with resistance, or just complete and utter disbelief, it's really upsetting. You can really see the way she gets a hard look at life in the public and on social media.”
Meanwhile, Leonardo DiCaprio is playing Kate Dibiasky’s astronomy professor, Dr Randall Mindy, following on his last major film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Of course, he’s also super famous for starring in Titanic, The Great Gatsby, The Wolf of Wall Street and The Revenant.
They’re joined by fellow Oscar winners, Meryl Streep (Sophie's Choice, Out Of Africa, The Iron Lady) and Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth, The Aviator).
Rob Morgan (Daredevil, Jessica Jones) plays Dr Clayt Oglethorpe, while Jonah Hill (21 Jump Street) is the President's hopeless son Jason Orlean and New Zealand actress Melanie Lynskey (Heavenly Creatures) is Dr Randall's wife June Mindy.
Ron Perlman (The Capture) meanwhile plays a military character Colonel Drask, and Dune star Timothée Chalamet plays Nico. Mark Rylance (Dunkirk, Wolf Hall), Tyler Perry, global superstar singer Ariana Grande, Scott Mescudi (aka rapper Kid Cudi) and Himesh Patel, who’s best known to British fans for his role in BBC1 soap EastEnders also star.
Anchorman star Adam McKay, who has written and produced the movie, also recently teased that Chris Evans has ‘a little cameo! Phew!
Adam McKay says: "Honestly, I’m still in complete shock that we got all these megastars to agree to do this in the first place. We initially sent the script around in early 2020. Jen Lawrence was the first one we went out to and was the first to sign on. Then Leo agreed, then Jonah, and Meryl. At a certain point my casting director said it was getting ridiculous. It occurred to me that we had one of these movies they used to make in the '60s and '70s that had 25 different stars in it, like It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World or A Bridge Too Far. It started to feel like it was becoming one of those kinds of adventures. 2020 was going to be amazing!"
Leonardo DiCaprio reveals his thoughts on 'Don't Look Up'
Leonardo DiCaprio says: “I've often in my career looked for a film that had an environmental undertone to it and what Adam McKay did was so brilliant, using the analogy of a giant comet heading towards Earth and showing how the human race would react to it from a political and scientific level, which I'd never seen before. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity in a lot of ways. I’m a huge fan of a lot of these films that came from the '60s and '70s — Parallax View, Three Days of the Condor, certainly Network and, of course, Dr. Strangelove, which talked about the Cold War through dark comedy.”
Meryl Streep on playing US President Janie Orlean in 'Don't Look Up'
Meryl Streep says: “We've become accustomed to loving horrible people. The anti-heroine is much less common. Take The Devil Wears Prada. Miranda Priestly is one of those people who’s disagreeable, but I understood her more because she had such a burden on her. But President Orlean wears the burden of leading the country very lightly. She hardly gives a second thought to it. It’s really about self aggrandizement, power, and self-importance and making a mark on the world. And if you do something along the way that helps the economy, great.”
Adam McKay adds: “I wanted someone who was 70 percent celebrity, 30 percent savvy politician, someone utterly craven and without shame, but still pretty smart. President Orlean is actually quite smart as far as navigating the system. So I did like any other screenwriter would do. I wanted Meryl Streep to play her.”
