While the director signed a first-look deal with Paramount Pictures for the project in November, Netflix has acquired Adam McKay’s satirical comedy Don’t Look Up, with Jennifer Lawrence (Dark Phoenix) signing on in a lead role, according to Variety.
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The film, written and directed by McKay, will center on two low-level astronomers who have to embark on a media tour to warn mankind of an approaching asteroid that is going to destroy Earth.
“I’m so thrilled to make this movie with Jen Lawrence,” McKay said. “She’s what folks in the 17th century used to call ‘a dynamite act.’ And the fact that Netflix sees this movie as a worldwide comedy sets the bar high for me and my team in an exciting and motivating way.”
Don’t Look Up is expected to being principal photography in April, with McKay set to produce the project under his Hyperobject Industries banner with Kevin Messick.
“Adam has always had great timing when it comes to making smart, relevant and irreverent films that depict our culture,” Netflix Film chief Scott Stuber said. “Even if he somehow ends up predicting planet Earth’s imminent demise, we’re excited to add this to our slate before it all comes to an end.”
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McKay has had a successful run in the satire genre over the past few years, earning one Oscar nomination and one win for 2016’s The Big Short and three Oscar noms for 2018’s Vice, including Best Picture.
After finding major success in the lead role of the Hunger Games franchise, Lawrence would go on to not only land a key role in the prequel X-Men series as Mystique, but also earn four Oscar nominations Winter’s Bone, Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle and Joy, winning on the second film. She will next be seen in the upcoming A24 drama Red, White, and Water, which is currently in post-production and she has a producer role on.
(Photo Credit: Backgrid Images)
