Some huge names have joined an already huge cast of names for Adam McKay‘s upcoming film, Don’t Look Up. Jennifer Lawrence, Cate Blanchett and Meryl Streep were already onboard McKay’s Netflix movie, but now Leonardo DiCaprio, Timothée Chalamet, Jonah Hill and Ariana Grande have signed on to make the film absolutely stacked with talent.
The film has frequently been described as a sci-fi satire that follows two low-level astronomers who embark on a media tour to warn mankind of an approaching asteroid that will destroy Earth.
McKay has been vocal about the threat of climate change, as have actors like DiCaprio. Plus, McKay has quickly become an actor’s director, the kind of guy that lets stars chew the scenery and have fun, but also be in films about serious subjects like the 2008 financial collapse and American politics. So it makes sense that plenty of big names are drawn to him.
McKay has built the ensemble around Lawrence, who was the first to sign on, before Blanchett quickly followed. DiCaprio’s involvement was long rumoured, especially when McKay originally planned to shoot the film in April. But with the pandemic delaying productions, DiCaprio was able to squeeze this in before shooting Martin Scorsese‘s Killers Of The Flower Moon.
That project is at Apple, which means that DiCaprio – arguably the biggest movie star in the world – will make his next two projects for streaming platforms. Yes, both movies will probably get limited theatrical releases, but it’s clearly a sign that streaming services are becoming major players in the industry, especially when the future of theatres is up in the air.
Streep, Chalamet and Hill all have history with Netflix, starring in The Laundromat, The King and the mini-series Maniac, respectively. McKay also has an enormous amount of other projects in the works, including a series on the Showtime Lakers and a Parasite miniseries each in the works at HBO, while he’s also working with Netflix on an Amy Adams-led series titled Kings Of America.
Don’t Look Up might end up having one of the greatest casts of all time. A huge coup for Netflix, which should garner a huge amount of subscribers when it eventually arrives, and it’s also a plus that the film is about climate change, arguably the gravest threat to our existence ever that some portions of the world still don’t think is a big deal and aren’t doing enough to stop.
Don’t Look Up and its big stars isn’t going to automatically change the minds of those people – especially when most of the culprits are massive corporations ignoring the threat in favour of greater short term profits – but if it can raise awareness and highlight the severe threats, while also hopefully being a great film, that’s at least something.
#Peace.Love.DontLookUp
