Adam McKay has earned enough Hollywood goodwill to do whatever he wants. And it looks like the director and writer is going for a moonshot with his latest ensemble comedy Don’t Look Up. Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep, and Timothée Chalamet are just a few of the A-listers who have signed on to star in the comedy about two astronomers hoping to convince the world that an asteroid is hurtling toward Earth, Deadline reports.
Jennifer Lawrence got onboard early, but it was announced today that she would be joined by those heavyweights, as well as McKay favorite Jonah Hill, Cate Blanchett, former sitcom star Matthew Perry, musicians Ariana Grande and Kid Cudi, Himesh Patel, Rob Morgan, and Tomer Sisley. Though many of the actors were previously believed to be on board, DiCaprio officially signing on with the project came with a wave of confirmations.
The Netflix movie marks the second-ever streaming-funded film for DiCaprio. Though he seemed to avoid taking advantage of the streaming platform’s deep pockets until this year, he’s already signed on for another movie funded by Netflix competitor Apple. Killers of the Flower Moon is directed by Martin Scorsese, marking the legendary director’s second foray into streaming after Netflix’s The Irishman.
McKay has moved from the quotables-laden comedies of Will Farrell like Step Brothers and Anchorman into more serious-minded comedic movies that attract Oscar attention like The Big Short and Vice. Given the cast, and the rumors that Lawrence and DiCaprio are the leads, we can probably expect the latter out of Don't Look Up. The star-stacked film is expected to begin filming within the year.
