Don't Look Up (2021 film)

On November 8, 2019, it was announced that Paramount Pictures would distribute the film, with Adam McKay writing, directing and producing under his Hyperobject Industries banner.[8] On February 19, 2020, Netflix acquired the film from Paramount.[9]

On February 19, 2020, Jennifer Lawrence was cast in the film.[9] On May 12, 2020, it was announced that Cate Blanchett had joined the film.[10] In September 2020, Rob Morgan joined the cast.[11] In October 2020, Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep, Jonah Hill, Himesh Patel, Timothée Chalamet, Ariana Grande, Scott Mescudi (Kid Cudi), Matthew Perry, and Tomer Sisley were added.[12][13] McKay wrote the part of Dibiasky specifically for Lawrence, and spent four-to-five months going over ideas with DiCaprio, tweaking the script before the actor ultimately signed on.[14]

In November 2020, Tyler Perry, Melanie Lynskey and Ron Perlman joined the cast.[15] In December 2020, Chris Evans joined the cast.[16] Gina Gershon, Mark Rylance, and Michael Chiklis were revealed as part of the cast in February 2021.[17][18] Paul Guilfoyle was announced in May.[19]

On February 19, 2020, it was announced that principal photography would start in April 2020.[9] However, it was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[20] Filming commenced on November 18, 2020, at various locations in Boston, Massachusetts.[21] Part of the film takes place in New York City with Boston standing in as New York. Filming also took place in other Massachusetts cities including Brockton, Framingham, and Westborough.[lower-alpha 1][22][23] On February 5, 2021, Jennifer Lawrence was mildly injured during filming when a controlled glass explosion went awry.[24] On February 18, 2021, principal photography wrapped.[25]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 54% of 147 reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.2/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Don't Look Up aims too high for its scattershot barbs to consistently land, but Adam McKay's star-studded satire hits its target of collective denial square on."[31] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 52 out of 100 based on 37 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[32]

Reviewing the film for the San Francisco Chronicle, Mick LaSalle praised the film and wrote, "Don't Look Up might be the funniest movie of 2021. It's the most depressing too, and that odd combination makes for a one-of-a-kind experience. Writer-director Adam McKay gives you over two hours of laughs while convincing you that the world is coming to an end."[33]

Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 2.5 out of 4 stars and said: "From Streep and DiCaprio and Lawrence through the supporting players, Don't Look Up is filled with greatly talented actors really and truly selling this material — but the volume remains at 11 throughout the story when some changes in tone here and there might have more effectively carried the day."[34] Reviewing the film for the Los Angeles Times, Justin Chang wrote, "Nothing about the foolishness and outrageousness of what the movie shows us — no matter how virtuosically sliced and diced by McKay's characteristically jittery editor, Hank Corwin — can really compete with the horrors of our real-world American idiocracy."[35]

In a negative review, David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter called the film "A cynical, insufferably smug satire stuffed to the gills with stars that purports to comment on political and media inattention to the climate crisis but really just trivializes it. Dr. Strangelove it ain't."[36] Peter Debruge of Variety called the film a "smug, easy-target political satire" and wrote, "Don't Look Up plays like the leftie answer to Armageddon — which is to say, it ditches the Bruckheimer approach of assembling a bunch of blue-collar heroes to rocket out to space and nuke the approaching comet, opting instead to spotlight the apathy, incompetence and financial self-interest of all involved."[37]