Adam McKay Compares His New Film Don’t Look Up to The Other Guys & The Big Short

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Filmmaker Adam McKay compares his new Netflix film Don't Look Up to his previous films The Other Guys and The Big Short. As the latest project from McKay, Don't Look Up is one of 2021's most highly-anticipated movies. The film has quite the star-studded cast, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Evans, Cate Blanchett, Meryl Streep, and many more. It follows two low level astronomers, played by DiCaprio and Lawrence, who must go on a media tour to warn the world of an approaching comet that will destroy the earth. Don't Look Up began filming in Massachusetts in November and is set to release on Netflix later this year. While it's been described as a dark comedy, McKay says the tone is similar to some of his previous fan-favorite films.

On a recent episode of Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused podcast, McKay discussed Don't Look Up's tone and where it lies compared to his other films. McKay said that it's somewhere between his 2010 film The Other Guys and 2015's The Big Short:

Definitely not as dark as Vice. Vice, I’d say, really probably ended up being a drama with some comedy. But Big Short, still, even though there’s drama in it – I would say this one is a tad more of a comedy than The Big Short…I don’t know if the Ferrell movies, because they’re so uniquely Will Ferrell – but somewhere in between The Other Guys and The Big Short, I’d say, is where this one lives.

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McKay's cop buddy comedy The Other Guys starred Mark Wahlberg and Ferrell as two at-odds cops who are forced to team up to take down a drug lord. While the fan-favorite movie begins as a typical buddy comedy, the second half does take a darker and more serious turn. Meanwhile, McKay's Oscar-winning film The Big Short centered around the financial crisis of 2007-2008. Like Don't Look Up, The Big Short had a full cast of acclaimed actors, including Christian Bale, Brad Pitt, Steve Carell, and Ryan Gosling, as well as plenty of cameos. The movie was a biographical comedy-drama centered around a serious subject but had plenty of comedic relief.

Based on the premise and description, it sounds like Don't Look Up will be closer to The Big Short on the spectrum that McKay laid out. With its large cast and comedic take on a serious subject matter (in this case, the environment), those who enjoy McKay's work are likely even more eager to see the upcoming Netflix film.