2021 was a year not many will forget, as much as we may want to. While uncommon and somewhat strange events throughout the year, a fictional, yet oddly realistic, comet crashing to earth in a movie was a wild bookend to the year. Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence were at the lead of Don't Look Up, the praised and criticized Adam McKay comedy, which featured a star-studded cast. Recently, Lawrence joked that their co-star, Meryl Streep, almost lost out to other stars. You know, because Streep is no big deal or anything.
Jennifer Lawrence recently screened the trailer for Don’t Look Up and had quite the shocking thing to say about Meryl Streep’s involvement in the film. According to what she says, Streep was an “unfortunate” add to the film. Here it is in her own words during her chat for Vanity Fair:
Yeah, I mean Meryl Streep was our last choice. Unfortunately, so many other actresses passed and we ended up with Meryl Streep.
Clearly, the Oscar winner is joking here. Sure, she delivers the line in a pretty deadpan fashion, but Meryl Streep is the G.O.A.T, and all of her co-stars pretty much know that. The actress is hilarious in the movie and even has an unexpected nude scene that fits perfectly with her character, who just happens to be the president of the United States.
As funny as Meryl Streep is in Don’t Look Up, she may just be outshined by her on-screen son, played by Jonah Hill. At least, in Jennifer Lawrence’s eyes, Hill had all the funnies because apparently she was cracking up at times. This was apparently due to the actor's improvisation, which was necessary for one particular aspect of his character. This is what she says, exactly:
Jonah’s character, he is the president’s son but also the Chief of Staff, which some might think is nepotism. And he is the worst. It was really, really hard filming with Jonah and just not ruining take after take laughing. We one time dedicated an entire day to him just improv-ing insults at me. It was amazing.
The many insults directed toward Jennifer Lawrence’s character in the film were a high points for me, and it sounds like Lawrence really enjoyed them as well. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are a lot of unused jokes that didn’t make it into the movie and, if so, that's definitely a compilation video I would be thrilled to watch.
Don’t Look Up is currently available to stream on Netflix and marks a big comeback to acting for Jennifer Lawrence, following her sabbatical from the Hollywood game. This year, you can catch Lawrence in the film Red, White, and Water, and she's also heading another Adam McKay project called Bad Blood. Both films have yet to be given release dates. Meryl Streep isn’t currently attached to any future films at the moment, but whenever the legend of a woman does appear in a movie again, she likely won't be anyone’s last choice.
