As the summer movie season begins to slow down later this month, awards season looms closer, and one of the upcoming films we’ll be watching for is Netflix’s Don’t Look Up. The movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence as two low-level astronomers who go on a media tour to warn mankind of Earth’s impending doom. Between the pair, they have been nominated for 10 acting Oscars and each won one over their careers, and apparently it pays to be as big of a talent as they each are.
Don’t Look Up is a sci-fi black comedy that not only has Leo DiCaprio and J-Law, but an incredible amount of big stars on its roster. Jonah Hill, Tyler Perry, Timothée Chalamet, Ariana Grande, Cate Blanchett, Chris Evans and Meryl Streep are all part of the movie. But now we know how much its two leads are getting for the movie, and it sounds like an expensive project.
While $20 million is the standard for both Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence, Netflix offered up a reported $30 million to DiCaprio and $25 million to Lawrence for the movie, per Variety. It’s a massive payday for each of the actors, especially for a film like this that is not a tentpole or exclusive theatrical release. The company must really believe in the project and those two Oscar winners in the specific roles.
While their paydays don’t quite measure up with Will Smith and Denzel Washington netting $40 million for King Richard and The Little Things, respectively, it’s much more than Ryan Gosling is reportedly getting for The Grey Man ($20 million), which is also coming to Netflix. And Robert Pattinson is getting paid on the low end of $3 million for The Batman.
Adam McKay wrote and directed Don’t Look Up following his critically-acclaimed work on Vice in 2018, The Big Short in 2015 and, of course, his modern classic, 2008’s Step Brothers. The filmmaker has found a way to heighten his comedy roots in recent years into awards season movies, and we’d expect the same from Don’t Look Up.
When the project was announced back in early 2020, it was said that the production budget was around $75 million. That makes sense for a project like this; however, if DiCaprio and Lawrence took home $55 million of it, I’d guess the budget ended up getting larger. When the deal was made, McKay shared that he was “thrilled” to be working with Lawrence alongside Netflix.
It’s been a few years since we’ve seen a Jennifer Lawrence movie. We don’t exactly count her last film appearance X-Men: Dark Phoenix, because she was barely in it, so that leaves 2018’s Red Sparrow. And DiCaprio’s last movie was Once Upon a Time In Hollywood. Both actors usually set the bar high and don’t say yes to just anything, so presumably these paydays are mixed with an exciting creative project for the two of them.
Don’t Look Up is coming to Netflix on in December. Check out what other movies are coming out this year here on CinemaBlend.
