Leonardo DiCaprio helped rewrite Don't Look Up's funniest scene 15 times. As one of the most accomplished American screen actors alive, DiCaprio has partnered with many of the greatest filmmakers of his time over his career, including James Cameron, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Christopher Nolan, Clint Eastwood, and Quentin Tarantino. Now, for only his second performance since finally winning his highly-coveted Oscar for The Revenant in 2015, DiCaprio has now collaborated with a comedic genius in Adam McKay for a satire of the climate change crisis.
After The Big Short and Vice, Don't Look Up will be McKay's third comedy-drama with a political slant. The film follows two low-level astronomers (DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence) who discover an approaching comet that will likely destroy Earth and embark on a massive media tour to warn the world of the impending apocalypse. However, they have trouble convincing others, such as the U.S. President (Meryl Streep), her Chief of Staff and son (Jonah Hill), and two morning talk show hosts (Tyler Perry and Cate Blanchett). Don't Look Up's ensemble cast also includes Rob Morgan, Mark Rylance, Ron Perlman, Timothée Chalamet, Ariana Grande, Matthew Perry, and Chris Evans.
In a recent profile by Vanity Fair, Don't Look Up writer/director McKay talked about what it was like working with DiCaprio. McKay revealed one example in particular in which DiCaprio asked if he could have a "mad as hell" Network-style speech in the movie, which McKay was hesitant about at first. In the end, the two rewrote the speech 15 times, and the scene resulted in the film's biggest laugh when it was test-screened.
DiCaprio and McKay rewriting the actor's speech so many times is just another example of the level of care the filmmaker and performer put into their craft. McKay previously revealed the Don't Look Up cast spent two days improvising the scene set in the Oval Office, resulting in a first cut that was 16 minutes long. The scene takes place early on in the film as the two astronomers attempt to warn the President and her advisors of the imminent disaster.
The first reactions to Don't Look Up have been overwhelmingly positive, with much of the praise going toward DiCaprio's comedic performance, which has ignited some Oscar buzz for him in the Best Actor race. Although he is uncredited, DiCaprio was also instrumental in writing one of his character's most pivotal scenes and one of the funniest moments in the film. His latest virtuoso performance can be seen when Don't Look Up debuts in theaters on December 10 and streams December 24 on Netflix.
Source: Vanity Fair
