From writer/director Adam McKay, the political satire Don’t Look Up follows Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence), an astronomy grad student, and her professor Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio), who discover a comet that they realize is definitely going to hit Earth and result in catastrophic, world-ending damage. But having that information and actually getting anyone to care, including the President of the United States (Meryl Streep), are two very different things, as everyone continues to go about their social media obsessed lives and ignores the fact that the world will be ending and there’s nothing they can do to stop it.

During this global press conference to discuss the film, DiCaprio, Lawrence and McKay talked about the public perception of science and scientists, tackling such serious issues with humor, making the movie at the height of COVID, finding a way to be creative at a really challenging time, learning Wu-Tang Clan lyrics, and how sometimes we have to just be able to say things to each other, without filtering them through social media or the 24-hour news cycle.

Question: Leo and Jen, as actors who portrayed scientists in the movie, knowing that science has really taken a beating in recent times, how do you hope that this movie changes the public’s perception of science and the people who practice science?

LEONARDO DiCAPRIO: Adam created this film, which was about the climate crisis, but he created a sense of urgency with it by making it about a comet that’s gonna hit Earth within six months’ time. Science has become politicized. There are alternative facts. And I was just thankful to play a character who’s based on so many of the people that I’ve met from the scientific community, and in particular, climate scientists who’ve been trying to communicate the urgency of this issue and feeling like they’re, subjected to the last page on the newspaper. I love the way he portrayed these two different characters, one that’s incredibly outspoken, like a Greta Thunberg type of character in Jen, and mine, who’s trying to play within the system. I also love the way he was just incredibly truthful about how we’re so immensely distracted from the truth nowadays. And then, of course, COVID hit and there was a whole new scientific argument going on there. It’s just such an important film to be a part of, at this particular time.

JENNIFER LAWRENCE: I think Leo said it perfectly. It’s just so sad and frustrating to watch people who have dedicated their lives to learning the truth, be turned away because people don’t like what the truth has to say.

dont-look-up-leonardo-dicaprio-jennifer-lawrence
Image via Netflix

RELATED: 'Don't Look Up' Trailer Reveals Adam McKay's Political Dark Comedy With Leo DiCaprio & Jennifer Lawrence

Adam, how did you pull off talking about such a serious, real-life issue, through the lens of comedy?

McKAY: We were talking about how we wanted to deal with this subject, the climate crisis, which is so overwhelming and it’s arguably the greatest threat to life in the history of mankind, and we just felt like it can almost be like an animal attacking you. It can just be overwhelming. But if you’re able to laugh, that means you have some distance, and I actually think that’s really important. You can feel urgency and you can feel sadness and you can feel loss, while also having a sense of humor. That was really the intention with this movie. After the crazy last five or ten years that we’ve all had, across the planet, we thought, “Wouldn’t it be nice to laugh at some of this and feel other feelings?” That was the approach. We get hit with thumping doomsday talk quite a bit, which is totally legit when it comes to climate change. But I did think it was important that people be allowed to laugh and have some distance. It’s also a great unifier. You can’t really fake laughter. It’s not a political thing. They’ve tried, but it never really works when you try to fake that. So, that was the thinking behind it.

Leo, what attracted you to doing a movie that tackles these issues through comedy?

DiCAPRIO: I’ve been looking for a movie about this subject for decades now. It’s an issue where everyone feels ultimately like, what kind of difference can we make? What can we contribute to this cause? And Adam really cracked the code with this narrative. There are so many comparisons that we can make to the climate crisis with this storyline. As a whole, it’s probably the most important issue all of us could be talking about on a regular basis and it takes artists like this to change the narrative and to create conversation. It’s just an honor to be a part of it, really.

Adam, what did you learn from working with this impressive cast?

McKAY: You know, Jen taught me that, as much as we all think we’re a big deal, there’s still the beating heart of a child inside each one of us. And Jen also taught me about true justice.

LAWRENCE: Where are you going with that?

McKAY: You can’t just put on a mask and go out and topple crime. Honestly, the beautiful about this movie was that it highlighted just how special collaboration is for me. We were in the middle of a pandemic and there was no vaccine. There’s definitely a vaccine now and everyone should be getting it, but at that time, there was no vaccine, and we all had to wear crazy masks and stay away from each other and have zones. But everyone did it and found a way to be creative, in a way that was genuinely moving and touching. That’s the thing that I love the most. Working with this group was one of the more special experiences I’ve ever had.

Dont-Look-Up
Image Via Netflix

RELATED: 'Don’t Look Up': Everything You Need to Know About Jennifer Lawrence & Leonardo DiCaprio's Awards Contender

Jen, the comet in the movie is named after your character. How did that make you feel?

LAWRENCE: I never thought about it. At first, it’s very exciting, until it becomes a catastrophe, and then it’s named after you. At first, she was probably very, very proud of this, and then I’m sure resentment started to build up, as people started fearing Comet Dibiasky.

Leo, what have you enjoyed about working with Jonah Hill, on three films now (Don’t Look Up, The Wolf of Wall Street and Django Unchained)? What does your established chemistry add to things?

DiCAPRIO: I’ll just say that he’s an absolute genius, this young man, this friend of mine. His ability to improvise and take control of a scene and have the narrative be shifted in the most amazing, colorful ways is a sight to witness and something truly remarkable to experience. He’s absolutely a genius. I’d love to work with him on a hundred more films.

Jen, how long did it take you to learn the lyrics to the Wu-Tang Clan song, at the beginning of the film?

LAWRENCE: The song came back on my phone recently and I was like, “All right, it’s been enough time. I’ll listen to it.” It took awhile. Something happened with COVID, where that ended up being my very first scene on the movie. It was horrifying because I was in this huge hanger and it was so quiet. I didn’t know anybody. And I had to rap Wu-Tang Clan. It was just horrendous. And then, what’s in the movie is five seconds. I really wish I had known that and could have foreseen what would be used. It was the worst day of my life. It was [a really strange experience]. Everybody was behind masks. It was very embarrassing.

McKAY: You did a good job though. You had it.

LAWRENCE: Thank you. I knew my assignment. I knew every word. I still do. There was no place to hide. "Dr. Doom, prepare for the boom."

dont-look-up-jennifer-lawrence-leonardo-dicaprio-timothee-chalamet
Image via Netflix

Jen, you’ve mentioned that you fangirled when you saw Ariana Grande (who plays starlet Riley Bina) on this shoot. What was it like to meet her?

LAWRENCE: It was shocking. She’s so tiny. I’m a huge fan of her music. It was overwhelming. Our worlds don’t normally collide. I just felt like a radio contest winner. I didn’t know how to talk to her, so I just did my best.

Leo, in real life, you’re very active in trying to bring awareness to environmental issues. Did that make it easier to tap into Dr. Mindy’s speech? Did your previous knowledge inform that at all?

DiCAPRIO: Very much so. What I really wanted to do was to try to articulate the frustration of the scientific community, how one is sitting there on a pulpit, speaking the truth. What Adam wrote so brilliantly was about all of these other noises drowning out the main. I tried to understand the frustration of the scientific community and how one would be in a situation like that, with the ultimate frustration realizing the world is falling apart. How do you take off this professional jacket to cut straight to the chase about the truth of this issue?

Adam, Leo’s character says that not everything has to be positive, all the time. Is that a criticism of our current way of life and the way we think of the media now?

McKAY: He says that not everything has to be charming or clever, not necessarily positive. I think there’s this demand, because there’s so much money behind the media with advertising and clicks and apps, that there has to be some engagement happening on some level, or people have to have a hot take or be clever. We must have rewritten that speech 20 times, and it’s one of my favorite moments when he says, “Sometimes we just have to be able to say things to each other.” That seems to be the basic line that’s been corrupted. We profitize the very way that we speak to each other, through social media, through phones, through commercials, through shows, and everything. It’s crazy to think about it. Now, they don’t call it TV show or songs, they call it content. It’s literally a word from a boardroom. That’s how much we’ve profitized the way we talk to each other. Sometimes you do just have to be able to hear things. There has to be a neutral playing field, occasionally, that is not brightly lit with sound effects and great looking people that have high focus group test numbers. That’s one of my favorite moments in the movie, for sure. And what Leo did with that speech was incredible. He just worked on that tirelessly. We kept going back and back. His sense on that speech was so spot on, and you can just feel the release. It’s so satisfying when he has that moment.

Don’t Look Up is in theaters on December 10th, and available to stream at Netflix on December 24th.