'Don't Look Up': Adam McKay reveals Leo DiCaprio responsible for devastating last line

Leonardo DiCaprio, who headlines recently released Film Don't Look Up alongside Jennifer Lawrence, apparently came up with the film's final line in a change from the original script. Recently, in an interview with Insider, the film's director Adam McKay has shared several behind-the-scenes gems about the film's production. 

Adam McKay reveals Leonardo DiCaprio came up with closing line in Don't Look Up

The director has made it clear that the project was a collaborative effort and has further discussed how even the script was adapted by the actors. Sharing an example, he talked about DiCaprio coming up with the film's closing line after saying the original line was not powerful enough. 

In an interview with Insider, the filmmaker said that DiCaprio came up with the line the day they were filming, and in the edit, Leo pushed them to put the line in. He added the 'line was so devastating,' and they were 'trying to get the balance of that ending just right.' McKay explained they didn't want to 'traumatize the audience but wanted it to hit them.' 

Further, he shared that they were 'nearing final cut and they didn't have much time left' when DiCaprio had said, "Don't you have to try that line? It really felt powerful when we did it." McKay shared he was afraid to use it and when they used the line before a test screening, it 'just landed.' So he ended up thanking the Titanic star and said, "Well, we tried." He said that it was DiCaprio who said, "No, it feels like it needs to be something else,' and he came into the edit and told them to try it. 

Don't Look Up is helmed by Adam McKay, who has the Academy Award-nominated Vice and The Big Short under his credits. The film is a popular 2021 American satirical science fiction film featuring Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence as two astronomers attempting to warn everyone about a deadly comet approaching planet Earth. 

Leonardo DiCaprio says 'Don't Look Up' is an analogy of modern-day culture

Earlier on Instagram, DiCaprio described his film in a nutshell and stated that it was an analogy of modern-day culture, he added how he often looked in his career for a film that had an environment undertone to it. Adding to it, he also stated that much like the inundation of news on climate change, there were a lot of people who didn't want to hear it, and making a film about it was an even more difficult task to take on. 

(Image: Instagram/@dontlookupmovie2021)