Leonardo DiCaprio calls his new movie “Don’t Look Up” a gift.
Not because he collaborated with a cast that includes Jennifer Lawrence, Cate Blanchett, Meryl Streep, Timothee Chalamet and Jonah Hill, to name just a few, but because the film captures the dangers of climate change while making people laugh.
“I think we all saw this as an incredibly unique gift,” said DiCaprio, one of Hollywood’s most vocal environmental activists.
“We wanted to get the message across about the climate crisis, and Adam (McKay) really broke the code by creating this narrative,” he said.
“Don’t Look Up Now,” which hit theaters on Friday and Netflix on December 24, takes a satirical look at the way media and politicians deal with climate issues. The plot sees two humble astronomers (played by DiCaprio and Lawrence) trying to warn a world that does not seem to care about a huge comet that will destroy Earth in six months.
DiCaprio said he had been looking to make a film about the climate crisis for a while, but finding the right approach had proved difficult so far.
“Either you make an existential journey into a person’s life, or you make it a disaster movie where New York freezes,” DiCaprio said.
Streep plays a selfish US president, with Hill as her son and her chief adviser. Blanchett and Tyler Perry play TV news presenters, Chalamet is an out-of-school teenager, and Mark Rylance plays a bizarre tech billionaire with his own agenda.
Director Adam McKay said that while people may see the film as a political stance, “the big trick is that we want you to laugh.”
“At its root, it’s a comedy,” he said.
DiCaprio said he was drawn to the film because it wanted to support scientists.
“I wanted to give my hat to people who dedicate their lives to this issue, who know what they are talking about and try to give them a little voice,” he said.
The Oscar-winning actor called himself “Debbie Downer” about the progress of efforts to tackle the climate crisis, but added: “I hope films like this … start creating different conversations and more people talking about it. “This will push the private sector and the powers that be to make huge changes.” Reuters
