Don't Look Up is a 2021 American political satire black comedy film written, co-produced, and directed by Adam McKay from a story he co-wrote with David Sirota. It stars an ensemble cast featuring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Rob Morgan, Jonah Hill, Mark Rylance, Tyler Perry, Timothée Chalamet, Ron Perlman, Ariana Grande, Kid Cudi, Cate Blanchett, and Meryl Streep. The film tells the story of two astronomers attempting to warn humanity about an approaching comet that will destroy human civilization. The movie's central comet impact event was used by McKay as an allegory for threats arising from climate change. The film satirizes social, political, corporate, celebrity, and media indifference, in particular to the climate crisis, and parallels societal responses to science during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Produced by McKay's Hyperobject Industries and Bluegrass Films, the film was announced in November 2019. Originally set for a theatrical release by Paramount Pictures, the distribution rights were acquired by Netflix several months later. Lawrence became the first member of the cast to join, with DiCaprio signing on after his discussions with McKay on adjustments to the script; the rest of the cast was added through 2020. Filming was initially set to begin in April 2020 in Massachusetts, but it was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic; it eventually began in November 2020 and wrapped in February 2021.
Don't Look Up began a limited theatrical release on December 10, 2021, before streaming on Netflix on December 24. It was praised for the cast's performances and the musical score, but critics were divided on the merits of McKay's satire: some found it deft, while others criticized it as smug and heavy-handed. Donna Lu of The Guardian notes that the movie "received a frosty reception from many film critics", while being thoroughly lauded by climate activists. Don't Look Up was named one of the top ten films of 2021 by the National Board of Review and American Film Institute. It received four Academy Award nominations (including Best Picture), four Golden Globe Award nominations (including Best Picture – Musical or Comedy), six Critics' Choice Award nominations, (including Best Picture), and also won Best Original Screenplay at the 74th Writers Guild of America Awards. The film set a new record for the most viewing hours in a single week on Netflix, and went on to become the second-most-watched movie on Netflix within 28 days of release.
Plot
Kate Dibiasky, a doctoral candidate in astronomy at Michigan State University, discovers a previously unknown comet. Her adviser, Dr. Randall Mindy, calculates that it will collide with Earth in approximately six months and is large enough to cause a global extinction event. Dr. Teddy Oglethorpe, head of their Planetary Defense Coordination Office, verifies their findings and accompanies them to present their findings to the White House. However, they are met with apathy from President Janie Orlean and her son Jason, who is also her Chief of Staff.
At Oglethorpe's encouragement, Dibiasky and Mindy leak the news on a popular morning show. When hosts Jack Bremmer and Brie Evantee treat the topic flippantly, Dibiasky loses her temper and rants about the threat before leaving. Public reaction is muted, and the announcement is downplayed by the NASA Director, a top donor to Orlean with no background in astronomy. When Orlean's sexual relations with her Supreme Court nominee make headlines, she tries to divert public attention to the threat of the comet, announcing a project to strike and divert the comet using nuclear weapons.
The mission successfully launches, but Orlean abruptly aborts it when Peter Isherwell, the billionaire CEO of BASH Cellular and another top donor, discovers that the comet contains trillions of dollars' worth of rare-earth elements. The White House agrees to commercially exploit the comet by fragmenting and recovering it from the ocean, using technology proposed by BASH in a scheme that has not undergone peer review. Orlean sidelines Dibiasky and Oglethorpe while hiring Mindy as National Science Advisor. Dibiasky attempts to mobilize public opposition to the scheme but gives up under threat from the administration. Mindy becomes a prominent voice advocating for the comet's commercial opportunities and begins an affair with Evantee.
Public opinion is divided among people who believe the comet is a severe threat, those who believe that mining a destroyed comet will create jobs, and those who deny that the comet even exists. When Dibiasky returns home to Illinois, she begins a relationship with a young man named Yule who she meets at her retail job. Mindy's wife comes to Washington to confront him about his infidelity, and returns to Michigan without him. Mindy questions Isherwell about the reliability of his technology, angering the billionaire.
Cut off from the administration, Mindy reconciles with Dibiasky as the comet becomes visible from Earth. Mindy, Dibiasky, and Oglethorpe organize a protest campaign on social media, telling people to "Just Look Up" and call on other countries to conduct comet interception operations. Simultaneously, Orlean starts an anti-campaign telling people "Don't Look Up". Russia, India, and China prepare their own joint deflection mission—only for their spacecraft to explode on takeoff, ending the possibility of a successful deflection. As the comet becomes larger in the sky, Orlean's supporters turn on her administration.
BASH's launches aimed at breaking the comet apart go awry, and everyone soon realizes that humanity is doomed. Isherwell, Orlean, and other elites board a sleeper spaceship designed to find an Earth analog. Orlean forgetfully leaves Jason behind, but offers Mindy two places on the ship. He declines, choosing to spend a final evening with his wife and children, Oglethorpe, Dibiasky, and Yule. As expected, the comet strikes off the coast of Chile, triggering an explosive extinction event.
In a mid-credits scene, the sleeper spaceship lands on a lush alien planet 22,740 years later. Admiring the habitable world, Orlean is suddenly killed by a large, avian creature—a death predicted earlier by BASH's algorithms. In a post-credits scene on Earth, Jason emerges from the rubble, having survived the impact.
Cast
Leonardo DiCaprio as Dr. Randall Mindy, an astronomy professor at Michigan State University (MSU) and Kate's teacher Jennifer Lawrence as Kate Dibiasky, an MSU doctoral candidate in astronomy Meryl Streep as Janie Orlean, the President of the United States. Cate Blanchett as Brie Evantee, co-host of The Daily Rip Rob Morgan as Dr. Teddy Oglethorpe, head of the Planetary Defense Coordination Office Jonah Hill as Jason Orlean, the White House Chief of Staff and President Orlean's son. Mark Rylance as Peter Isherwell, the billionaire CEO of the fictitious tech company BASH and one of Orlean's top donors. Tyler Perry as Jack Bremmer, the co-host of The Daily Rip Timothée Chalamet as Yule, a young shoplifter whom Kate befriends Ron Perlman as Colonel Benedict Drask, war veteran and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient who is sent up with the initial launch to divert the comet Ariana Grande as Riley Bina, an international pop music star Kid Cudi (credited as his real name Scott Mescudi) as DJ Chello, an international rapper who becomes Riley's fiancé on The Daily Rip Himesh Patel as Phillip Kaj, a journalist at Autopsy and Kate's boyfriend Melanie Lynskey as June Mindy, Dr. Randall Mindy's wife Michael Chiklis as Dan Pawketty, the host of the conservative Patriot News Network Tomer Sisley as Adul Grelio, the senior editor at the New York Herald Paul Guilfoyle as US Air Force Lieutenant General Stuart Themes, the Pentagon liaison to the White House Robert Joy as Congressman Tenant, a congressman and follower of Janie
Other cast members include Kevin Craig West as the Secretary of State; Erik Parillo as Sheriff Conlon, Orlean's choice for Supreme Court Justice who ends up in a sex scandal with Orlean; Jon Glaser as Meow Man; Sarah Nolen as the puppeteer of Sammy; Allyn Burrows as Mr. Dibiasky, the father of Kate; and Tori Davis Lawlor as Mrs. Dibiasky, the mother of Kate.
Additionally, Robert Hurst Radochia and Conor Sweeney appear as Randall and June's sons, Evan and Marshall Mindy. Hettienne Park appears as Dr. Jocelyn Calder, the Administrator of NASA. Chris Everett appears as Paula Woods, chief editor at the New York Herald.
There are cameo appearances by Liev Schreiber as the BASH narrator, journalist Ashleigh Banfield as Dalia Hensfield, Sarah Silverman as comedian Sarah Benterman, Indian actor Ishaan Khatter as Raghav Manavalan, and Chris Evans in an uncredited role as film actor Devin Peters, who stars in the film Total Devastation.
Matthew Perry and Gina Gershon were cast for undisclosed roles in the film, but their scenes were cut.
Production Produced by Hyperobject Industries and Bluegrass Films, the film was announced in November 2019 and sold by Paramount Pictures to Netflix several months later. Jennifer Lawrence became the first member of the cast to join, with Leonardo DiCaprio signing on after his discussions with McKay on adjustments to the script; the rest of the cast was added through 2020.
After Vice was released, David Sirota asked Adam McKay to use his "superpowers of humor and writing" to create a climate change movie that would be different from the Mad Max-type post-apocalyptic films that had previously been released. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, McKay described how he and Sirota came up with the premise of Don't Look Up while discussing the existential threat of climate change and their frustration over the lack of media coverage it was receiving:I started talking to a lot of [climate] scientists. I kept looking for good news, and I never got it. Everything I was hearing was worse than what I was hearing on the mainstream media. So I was talking to [David Sirota], and we were both just like, "can you believe that this isn't being covered in the media? That it's being pushed to the end of the story? That there's no headlines?" And Sirota just offhandedly said, "it's like a comet is heading to Earth and it's going to destroy us all and no one cares." And I was like, "that's the idea!"
McKay has described the film as a "blend of broad comedy" with elements of disaster films and horror films.
Astronomer Amy Mainzer, principal investigator of NASA's NEOWISE mission that tracks near-Earth objects, served as an "astrotech adviser" for the film. She provided scientific advice and supported with writing scenes from an early stage of production.