Meryl Streep joins the bubble, and improv takes over the Oval Office. Boston winter freezes lips. Later, a car dealership becomes a soundstage, where Tyler Perry and Cate Blanchett play vapid for daytime television.
Meryl Streep joins the bubble, and improv takes over the Oval Office. Boston winter freezes lips. Later, a car dealership becomes a soundstage, where Tyler Perry and Cate Blanchett play vapid for daytime television.
Meryl Streep:
I'm Meryl Streep and I'm the president of the United States, in the movie.
Narrator:
Meryl Streep has waited 71 years to say those words. Despite earning 21 Academy Award nominations for her portrayals of nuns, chefs, novelists, labor activists, newspaper publishers, magazine titans, Holocaust victims, cancer patients, witches, drunks, divorcees, violin teachers, and the British prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, Meryl Streep has never had the opportunity to play the U.S. President.
Meryl Streep:
A long time ago, Robert de Niro was talking about doing something where he was the first man or the first gentleman, what they call, so I would be president in that. And it was just an idea we were kicking around for a script, but it never really happened.
Narrator:
So, Meryl's campaign stalled until Adam McKay gave her a call to play the leader of the free world in Don't Look Up.
Adam McKay:
I wanted someone who was 70% celebrity, 30% savvy politician, and also utterly craven and without shame, but still pretty smart. She's actually quite smart as far as navigating the system. So, I did like any other screenwriter would do. I was like, "Well, of course we'd want Meryl Streep to play this." And God bless her, she went for it.
Narrator:
This movie is a satire. So, Adam needed her to be an exaggeration of the real thing. President Orlean isn't simply a stand-in for a terrible president, she's the stand-in for the whole system that enables terrible presidents.
Adam McKay:
I would say that pretty much every major institution over the last 30 years has, to some degree or another, failed us, except Taco Bell and the NBA. Those are the only two institutions that have held up pretty well. Taco Bell is going to always deliver strange, hybrid, non-Mexican, Mexican food that looks really good in a commercial and I have to try at once. And the NBA. Other than that, every institution is crumbling at a preposterous rate right in front of us.
Narrator:
And so Meryl Streep's president and her nepotistic chief-of-staff son, played by Jonah Hill, are stand-ins for our broken government. And Tyler Perry and Cate Blanchett are vapid TV personalities, stand-ins for a news media, driven by ratings.
Tyler Perry:
The thing I love about working with Cate is she'll start going and then I'll go too.
Cate Blanchett:
I don't know, we just hit it off. It was like being tickled.
Narrator:
To find the funny and the absurdity of these institutions at a time when nothing funny seemed to be happening in the real world, these actors had to let their comedic freak flags fly and embrace the improv.
Meryl Streep:
I was insane, I will say that, on this film. I was completely nuts.
Narrator:
This is the last move ever made. Episode three, Postcards From The End Of The World. It's early December 2020. Winter has just blown into Boston. And so has the force known as Meryl Streep.
Adam McKay:
There is definitely a little crackle goes through the crew and the other cast. And there's definitely an excitement. And suddenly every moment that anyone's having, they're not just setting the lights for a scene, they're setting the lights for a scene with Meryl Streep. Suddenly a day player who has two lines isn't just saying their two lines, they're saying their two lines in a scene with Meryl Streep.
Narrator:
We've all heard horror stories that come with some big stars. Tantrums on set, rules about eye contact. So, when an actor as huge as Meryl Streep walks in, some might be bracing themselves.
Adam McKay:
So, what's funny about it is she shows up and she's a giant sweetheart. She's really funny, she's really down to earth. If it wasn't for COVID, she'd be giving everyone a big hug. And the first time I meet her at the production office, she walks in with her dog, which just right away I like anyone who walks in with their dog.
Narrator:
Meryl used to be a method actor who became her characters, even offset. She quit this practice after The Devil Wears Prada. Playing the domineering Miranda Priestly made her unable to befriend co-stars, leading to isolation and depression. Well, Meryl maintains a method adjacent technique. To get in the correct mindset, she gives each of her characters a musical theme.
Meryl Streep:
I usually have one thing that I listen to over and over. And it's sort of a mantra or something puts me in the space, the head space.
Narrator:
For The Hours, it was opera singer, Jessye Norman. For the River Wild, it was Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos. And for Plenty, it was Fleetwood Mac's Tusk. But Meryl's soundtrack for Don't Look Up wasn't music at all.
Meryl Streep:
The news, endlessly the news, because there was so much happening while we were shooting.
News Clip:
On this first Friday of December, the president is demanding Georgia's governor overturn a democratic election and just make [crosstalk].
News Clip:
Lawmakers like Lindsey Graham are still not calling Biden president-elect, but they're saying he's likely going to be the president.
Meryl Streep:
I felt that it was like a civic responsibility to keep up with what was happening and to pay attention. And I still think that paying attention is the theme of this film.
Narrator:
If that's the theme of the film, then Meryl's character, President Janie Orlean, is the one who's trying to kill that message.
Staci Roberts-Steele:
Can you just talk about empathy with this character?
Meryl Streep:
I'd rather talk about not empathy with her because I don't think she has any, but I wanted to talk about barrel curls.
Narrator:
All right, Meryl, we can talk about barrel curls. So, let's begin with the hair. In his script, Adam McKay also began with the hair. His description of the president starts with president Orlean has bright blonde statement hair.
Meryl Streep:
There was a moment in time, maybe seven years ago, where this hair started to appear that seemed really laboriously done, separated curls and then the ends go like this. I really, really wanted to have barrel curls because I don't understand them, I don't understand the appeal, but now everybody has them. Every newscaster, everybody has them. And so, I felt it was important that the president had barrel curls, because maybe that would make people like her more.
Narrator:
Now for the face. What would president Janie Orlean want to look like on Mount Rushmore? Makeup head, Liz Bernstrom, reports that Meryl asked for a taught facelift and extra mascara.
Liz Bernstrom:
She wanted it to be an over the top look, like a pageant gal. The lashes, the bold eye, the slightly overdrawn lip. The character is completely out of touch with what's going on in the world. She's in her little presidential bubble and very, very much thinking about Janie.
Narrator:
Janie also chain smokes. This is notable because no American president has publicly smoked in the White House since Lyon B. Johnson, but Adam has decided president Orlean will embrace her bad habit.
Meryl Streep:
One of the first things he said to me was, "And she smokes." I said, "Okay." And he said, "She smokes defiantly. And people love her for it because it makes it her authentic." And the theory that the more of an, you are the more popular, I guess. And so, I thought that was fun until we shot. And then that was horrible to do. And especially on cue when every time they say, okay, "We're going to start again and then you have to do it again." And they were these herbal cigarettes. They kind of smell like the mall, those fragrance stores.
Narrator:
Barrel curls, mascara, foul smelling cigarettes. Meryl is focused on the exterior of president Orlean. That's because president Orlean is a superficial leader, a celebrity who became famous for writing a bestselling book called How To Manage Your Money Even When You Have None, she is herself a hollow shell.
Adam McKay:
She's this tough talk business advice lady. And we pictured her as being from Long Island and no-nonsense, kicking and butt left and right, unashamedly about herself, about her own brand. Someone who will talk about her own brand while talking to other world leaders about loose nukes or the climate crisis or international trade agreements.
Meryl Streep:
We've become accustomed to loving horrible people. The anti-heroine is much less common. The Devil Wears Prada is one of those people who's disagreeable, but she, I understood more, because she had such a burden on her. But president Orlean wears the burden of leading the country very lightly. She hardly gives a second thought to it. It's really about self-aggrandizement and power and self-importance and making a mark in the world. And if you do something along the way that helps the economy, great.
Narrator:
On December 4th, 2020, the 13th day of the shoot, Meryl Streep walks on set as president Orlean for the first time. [crosstalk] Over her barrel curls, she wears a red, white, and blue trucker hat that reads Don't Look Up. [crosstalk] She's shooting a rally scene and was supposed to be a packed stadium, only in reality, Meryl Streep enters a largely empty stadium with a small group of socially distanced extras, wearing masks and face shields. They will later be duplicated and de-masked by the visual effects team, to create the illusion of a clamoring crowd. That night it's just the frigid Boston winter, and the snowstorm headed towards town. Meryl's lips keep freezing, making it difficult for her to say her lines. She's forced to take breaks to warm them up. The next night, Meryl appears remotely on a late night talk show where host Stephen Colbert asked about her first days back on a film set.
Meryl Streep:
I was so bad. I've been in this quarantine and I'm totally alone, and my first scene was entering a stadium full of 20,000 people as the president, my big face on the jumbotron in front of me. And I just completely lost it.
Stephen Colbert:
What's it like to shoot a movie? That sounds remarkably normal.
Meryl Streep:
Not at all. No. They're meant to have a big hazah, make a big noise, but it sounds like ... and the whole thing's so eerie and odd and disconcerting. And we all have of course masks, at the last minute you take everything off and the lipstick is all up here and ... God I have to pull myself together for Monday
Narrator:
On Monday it's time for president Orlean to report to the office, that's after the break.
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Narrator:
It's still December, and winter has chilled Boston. Soon, a day of snowfall will double the city's record. There are ice crystals and beards and red noses on the street, even underneath the pandemic masks. Temperatures are warmer inside the hair and makeup trailer on the set of Don't Look Up. Hair and makeup is usually a headquarters of intimacy, a trusted place where long time bonds are formed between the actor and the cosmetician who makes a movie star look like a movie star. Meryl has been joined this trailer by J. Roy Helland, going back to her first New York stage appearance in 1975.
Meryl Streep:
I've worked for 150 years with Roy Helland, who has done my hair and makeup for years and years.
Narrator:
But he wasn't able to join her this time. Patti Dehaney is the head of hair and makeup, given Meryl's long established collaboration with J. Roy Helland, Patti hadn't planned for someone to cover Meryl.
Patti Dehaney:
So, I had to go into the hallway in the stairwell and quickly call Liz Bernstrom and say, "Guess you're going to be doing Meryl Street's makeup." And she was like, "What?" And I'm like, "Yeah. And we have a camera test in two days."
Liz Bernstrom:
Which I was absolutely thrilled about, who would not want to work with Meryl?
Meryl Streep:
That person who comes in first thing in the morning, very early in the morning and touches your face, it's an intimate relationship. And she very quickly showed me her empathy and her heart.
Narrator:
Hours pass as Liz and Meryl perfect president Orleans's beauty pageant looks. With time Liz feels comfortable opening up and the two begin to really talk.
Liz Bernstrom:
My aunt passed, who had already beaten COVID and then succumbed to pneumonia. So, she's essentially my mom. Two days later, my mother-in-law. And then I guess it was probably like seven or eight days after that, my aunt. So, there were four deaths in two and a half weeks. I was like, "God, this is there's like a black cloud over me.: Maybe I just need to step away. And we had gotten as far as writing my letter of resignation and that night I got a message from Meryl that stopped me. She wrote me the most lovely letter ... Sorry. Basically gave me permission to continue. And I think it was the best choice.
Meryl Streep:
I know myself that when the earth moves under your feet and you feel like falling down, it's good to have something that matters to hold onto, a little life raft. And that's true. You can work your way out of it and through it and up over it.
Narrator:
Liz decides to stay and finish the film. Later, Meryl surprises her again with her kindness.
Liz Bernstrom:
I don't know how she knew, but I was not expecting her to make such a big deal of my birthday. And I came into her trailer to get her ready for the day and there was just gigantic bouquet. And I thought, for sure, it was from production or somebody in her camp that had sent it. No, it was for me. With a handwritten note and a beautiful bottle of wine.
Narrator:
Soon Meryl must leave all her empathy behind and shoot an important Oval Office scene as president Orlean.
Adam McKay:
I am here on set. We are in the Oval Office doing a camera test. I'm here with Staci. I'll shut up for a second, maybe you can hear the slight din of chatter and work. I always love when radio shows do that when they're like, "We're in San Paulo," and then in the background you hear, " ... " But yeah, we're on our makeshift sound stage surrounded by a fake White House. Over to our right is a fake situation room.
News Clip:
Is this White House similar to the White House on Vice?
Adam McKay:
It is. They're both accurately modeled on the Oval Office and the White House. However, we did make this one about 10% bigger because of COVID. And then we have a different president who's in here. So, in the case of George W. Bush, that was a real White House that we were trying to get exactly right. In this case, it's president Janie Orlean, who's her own fictional president. So, we're trying to represent that character as we imagine it. So, then you look at all the other presidents, it's surprising, Obama had pretty extreme wallpaper, it was bright yellow with stripes. I was really surprised
Narrator:
In the short story, The Yellow Wallpaper by the American writer, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, published in 1892, yellow wallpaper symbolizes a woman driven mad by the patriarchy. To Obama, it symbolized a man aware that his very presence was breaking tradition. What will president Orleans's oval office decor say about her? That question must be answered by supervising art director, Brad Ricker.
Brad Ricker:
There are these neo fascist-looking empire sort of side tables. And of course in the script it says that president Orlean has really made her name by writing a self-help financial advice book. And those books are everywhere. So, she has filled the bookshelves of the Oval Office with her best seller.
Narrator:
In school, brad studied art film and architecture, which you might expect. However, Brad also took classes in semiotics, the study of signs and symbols, which gave him ideas he later used in films like Inception. The design for president Orleans's Oval Office has its own symbols. Grim images of white colonizers slaughtering the people whose land they were intent on stealing.
Brad Ricker:
And then in the corridors outside, there's something a little ominous about some of the art, like there's a lot of art of Native Americans. It's sort of like, this is an administration that's really going to screw everyone.
Narrator:
Luckily for president Orlean and unlikely for America, she has role models. Previous presidents who also screwed over the country. Portraits of these men adorn her walls, much the like posters of heartthrobs in a teen's bedroom.
Brad Ricker:
The portraits that are shown are from the worst presidents of the United States, Harding and Jackson and Nixon, it's a rogue's gallery of presidents. There's actually a portrait of Cheney in there too, opposite the portrait of Bush, since he shared responsibility for that wonderful administration's decisions.
Narrator:
This last bit of set design is a not so subtle way of signaling that just like in the real world, this fictional story will hinge on disastrous choices made behind closed doors.
Adam McKay:
If you were in a movie and there was a comment that was going to hit the earth 30, 40, 50 years ago, it'd be pretty clear what would happen. I mean, you would go to the government, they would then call in the joint chiefs, they would call in scientists, it would be released by the press, who is a very clear function as the Fourth of State of our democracy and for the planet to inform the people. And you would get to work on the problem. You can even see it in the movie Armageddon to some degree.
Narrator:
1998 Asteroid Disaster movie, where Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck save the day, is the spiritual antithesis of Don't Look Up.
Adam McKay:
I would argue that our depiction of what happens in this movie is much more accurate to what would happen, which is political infighting, people looking for the prophet motives, celebritizing people, conspiracy theories, contrarianism to try and gain power.
Narrator:
Unfortunately for Jennifer Lawrence's character, Kate Dibiasky, she's in Adam's movie, not Armageddon.
Jennifer Lawrence:
Kate has never been a fan of Orleans's presidency, but I think she goes in with hope. I think when you see something so scary and you're faced with something so diabolical, you're obviously just hoping that there's going to be an adult in the room and okay, I don't agree with most of her policies, but she is the president, she's got missiles, she's going to have the answers,
Narrator:
But this is not one of those movies.
Susan Matheson:
Adam mentioned that once Kate and Randall, which is Jennifer Lawrence and Leonard DiCaprio, head towards Washington DC to meet with president Orlean, played by Meryl Streep, that they were leaving the real world and heading into a journey that became a journey into Hades. And of course, Hades is hell. And as soon as he said that, I thought, wouldn't it be interesting to have Meryl Streep in her first big scene with Randall and Kate be wearing the color red? Because of course red is most definitely the color of hell
Narrator:
On their way to hell. Thank you for that description, costume designer, Susan Matheson. Astronomers, Kate and Randall are joined by a third scientist. Dr. Teddy Oglethorpe, played by Rob Morgan.
Rob Morgan:
Dr. Teddy Oglethorpe, head of planetary defense at NASA. And my job is to clean the junk in outer space. And I take my job very seriously, no matter how many people may think the job doesn't exist, it's an actual job, dammit.
Narrator:
The Planetary Defense Coordination Office was founded by NASA in 2016 to track hazardous comments, by which they mean any comment larger than a court that could be headed our way
Rob Morgan:
While we were shooting it, I'm doing all my research for the project, and I find out about this Arecibo satellite in Puerto Rico, and it's one of the main satellites that's responsible for identifying space junk so that I can do my job, my planetary defense coordinating job. When we were shooting, it was broken. It might still be broken, I'm going to be real honest with you, meaning we're really vulnerable for what this film is expressing right now in real time, real life, as much as we find it farfetched. So, yeah, it was just very interesting how art imitating life, life imitating art, we were really in while we were making this movie. So, that's what was hitting me at the same time now. And I actually tried to use that as part of my character motivation, man. Because it was real. It was like, man, this could really happen right now.
Narrator:
And so, Rob channels this chilling fact into his character and anchors the trio with Jen and Leo.
Adam McKay:
I always thought of them as representing the three sides of our responses to anything like the climate crisis or the coronavirus, which is the weathered bureaucrat, who's Teddy, who's seen everything. Who's almost incapable of panic. And then there's Kate Dibiasky, she doesn't get the game at all. And even when she starts to get it, she still thinks it's BS. So, she doesn't want to even play it. She's just going from the natural instinct of, hey, we're all going to die, let's just talk about it. And then there's Dr. Mindy who represents all of our neurosis. He's the definition of a reluctant hero.
Narrator:
It's finally time to shoot the movie's big Oval Office scene. Jen, Leo, Rob, Jonah, and Meryl in one space. They start with Meryl chatting on the phone as the scientists enter her office. What does the president find more important than the fate of the world? Pretty much anything, Adam McKay tells her.
Meryl Streep:
Just says, "Okay, just say anything, pick up the phone and then you start the meeting," but he didn't care how long it went on.
Narrator:
So she did, for over 30 takes.
Meryl Streep:
Yeah. Well the results are what? Oh no. Do I have to take an antibiotic again? Okay. I know I'm slowing down. Believe me. How many partners. Are you judging me? I'm the president of the United States, you fuck.
Jennifer Lawrence:
In the first moments working with Meryl Streep are, "Oh my God. I'm in the same room as Meryl Streep. I'm in the same movie as Meryl Streep."
Rob Morgan:
I was calling my manager every day, like a little fan boy, just like, "Wow, you should have seen what she did today, man." Oh my God. She's amazing.
Jennifer Lawrence:
And then watching her improv is incredible.
Meryl Streep:
You don't want implants. I know I had them, but I had them taken out. That look is over, you know?
Jennifer Lawrence:
I didn't expect that. It was just, she was hilarious in her comedic timing, even just by herself talking to nobody on the phone, she was better at it than comedic actors.
Staci Roberts-Steele:
Every single time she had this whole story.
Meryl Streep:
Yeah. I could make that happen. I could make that ... you learn English, you know, it's so cute. Shut up. Shut up. I got people here. Okay. I love you. Bye.
Staci Roberts-Steele:
And at the end she goes, "I love you, goodbye." And it's like, who is she talking to?
Adam McKay:
I was in Chicago and did improv pretty much full time for five, six years. And I don't think I could do that. 30, 35 different phone calls. Every one of them a complete idea.
Meryl Streep:
Sometimes he'd say, "Go back to that thing that you did before." And that was when I would hit a wall. I would say, "What thing that I did before?" He said, you know where you're talking to the cabana boy and ... I had no idea I was talking to a cabana boy on the previous take, but apparently I was.
Narrator:
Sadly, none of that will make it into the final cut of the film. But the improvisational and energy on set that day was in motion and flowed into the dynamic between her and one actor in particular.
Meryl Streep:
Jonah hill is so brilliant. He played my son and I just, I felt like with my own kids, I couldn't keep up with him. [crosstalk] ... know how many the-world-is-ending meetings that we've had over the years? Economic collapse, loose nukes, car exhaust killing the atmosphere, rogue AI-
Jonah Hill:
... drought, famine, plague-
Meryl Streep:
Everything.
Jonah Hill:
... alien invasion, population growth, hole in the ozone.
Meryl Streep:
Jason, hey, read the room for once in your life.
Jonah Hill:
Sorry, mom.
Leonardo DiCaprio:
Getting to see Marilyn Jonah in the white house ignore this issue and divert it and talk about incredibly shallow things while we're trying to explain to them that the world is ending was genius. Adam set a tone where anything goes. And the sort of more ridiculous and unhinged that the president and her son were the more our characters were perplexed. And having worked with Jonah, putting him in a room with Meryl Streep and watching their banter together was at absolutely incredible.
Narrator:
In their scenes together. The improv takes over. Meryl and Jonah are in the zone, fully inhabiting their self-absorbed characters.
Leonardo DiCaprio:
They've portrayed them as completely unhinged, absolutely undependable leaders, which was a huge motivation for Jen and I for the rest of the film.
Jennifer Lawrence:
I got really heated on that and took it to a 10 and was angry. And she looks up at me and looks dead in my eyes and goes, "Are you talking to me?" And I was like, "Oh," I just felt my blood run cold. That's one of coolest parts about my job is the adrenaline rush that you can get. And then she called me a cunt. I actually don't have a diary, but I came home and wrote on my computer and was like, "Dear diary ... "
Meryl Streep:
I think we're all a little bit out of our minds right now. And that was why my way of manifesting it to just go nuts.
Narrator:
To be in the middle of a scene, having a fake fight in a fake Oval Office was for these artists, a return to sanity. When the camera was on, everyone entered a world threatened by a deadly comet, not a contagious disease. It was the most normal thing anyone had gotten to do in eight months, until Adam called cut.
Staci Roberts-Steele:
We're watching the oval Office, it's like the good old days, where things are normal. And then we cut. And then all of a sudden the hair makeup team comes in. All the people come in to do the stuff they have to do. And suddenly it looks like a hospital.
Narrator:
Later that week, this blink and you'll miss it transformation from movie set to hospital, takes a more literal turn. While on location, shooting at the DC Convention Center in Boston, co-producer Staci Roberts-Steele, AKA Swiss Army Knife, records an audio diary. She's very aware that there's no room to delay filming because tomorrow the city will turn the space into a field hospital, as COVID numbers outside of the Don't Look Up bubble continue to rise.
Staci Roberts-Steele:
So, quite a turnaround. On a personal note, I'm trying to keep it together today. It is my birthday, which should be a happy day, but I'm just having trouble because my dad died three weeks ago and I don't know. It's weird. I feel like I've been so removed from it outside of the first few days of, after we found out that he had passed, and I don't know, I'm just plowing ahead. But for some reason at my birthday ... well, for some reason ... I know why. But on my birthday it's been a little hard today. So, I'm hoping they don't sing me happy birthday. Every time someone says happy birthday, as nice as it is, it feels a little ... I don't know. It's a little tough today.
Narrator:
Staci's had more than her share of difficult moments during production. Last episode, we heard her struggle to celebrate Thanksgiving over Zoom with her young daughter, Frida, who spent most of the video call in tears. But like Meryl and Liz, Staci finds comfort in the distraction of work. And so, she goes to the costume department for a fitting. For today, Staci's not merely a producer, she's an actress. Adam often uses her to read with actors during auditions and likes to slip her into his movies. Her part of the Big Short got cut, but Staci's determined not to be cut from this movie. So, she's chosen to play the assistant to a big batty in the film. A tech CEO played by Mark Rylance. Costume designer Susan, and her co-designer Elaine Perlman, fuss over Staci's outfit until it's exactly right.
Susan Matheson:
I do become a little bossy in fittings. Someone told me I was like a Sergeant major in a past life. I think I was a Sergeant major mixed with Mary Poppins. Like, should we be squishing the boobs down? [crosstalk] The blouse is looking hell I don't like it at all. It's just like poop color.
Elaine Perlman:
Is poop color?
Susan Matheson:
Yeah. [crosstalk] It's terrible.
Elaine Perlman:
You don't want to see that on you.
Susan Matheson:
The color of the satin-
Elaine Perlman:
Satin?
Susan Matheson:
... is that you look like you're in Saturday Night Fever. It's very black. You look like you're working as a dominatrix on the side. So, I'm driving Elaine crazy, but that's what I was born to.
Staci Roberts-Steele:
You know I only have like three lines, right?
Susan Matheson:
I'm sorry. It doesn't matter. I drive Elaine crazy every day because I obsess on every person, it doesn't matter if you've got one line you're the lead, right?
Staci Roberts-Steele:
Mark Rylance is out in the hall like, "What's taking so long?" We found the top.
Susan Matheson:
Okay. So, it's going to be a brora, hundred percent cashmere sweater, or as they say in England, jumper. It's a jumper, Staci, from Scotland.
Staci Roberts-Steele:
It's a jumper.
Susan Matheson:
And the jumper is what is the winner. Let's put it on the body.
Staci Roberts-Steele:
Oh my god, I'm so excited.
Susan Matheson:
Send you off for hair and makeup now with Patti and Liz.
Staci Roberts-Steele:
Love it.
Susan Matheson:
Okay. [French].
Staci Roberts-Steele:
Thank you.
Susan Matheson:
I wish you [French] and I wish you all the best.
Staci Roberts-Steele:
Your work is done here.
Susan Matheson:
That's right. Good riddance.
Narrator:
With filmmaking comes stress, and with stress comes wine. Executive producer, Jeff Waxman, is drinking a glass of Cabernet in preparation for the work ahead. Jeff was never much of a drinker until a few years ago while filming John Wick 2, in Italy, where he fell in love with red wine. It's week nine of the shoot. He may be home after a long day, but he's still hounded by nonstop work emails and phone calls. So, simple tasks end up taking longer than usual.
Jeff Waxman:
9:14, it took 12 minutes to pour wine. So, that's good.
Narrator:
The Oval Office is wrapped. Now to create something completely different.
Jeff Waxman:
This week, the rest of the week, we're at the Daily Rip, which is a morning show that we created and we built it from scratch because we couldn't shoot in a real studio. So, we have many people that have worked really long and hard to build it. So, I can't wait to see it
Narrator:
In the world of the movie, Jen and Leo's astronomers leave the White House without any help, so they must turn to the media. In the world of the production, the cast and crew must travel to an unlikely place in Western Massachusetts to shoot those scenes. Here's producer Kevin Messick.
Kevin Messick:
Our production designer, Clayton, has a knack for figuring out what locations really lend themselves to the sets that we need. And they're not always what you would think. And in the case of the Daily Rip, he found it Nissan or a Subaru dealership that uniquely had a great vibe and the bones for what a TV morning show set would look like. I don't think anybody would've imagined that the car dealership that he found would be turned into this amazing set for Cate Blanchett and Tyler Perry.
Voice on set:
[crosstalk] All right. We're 20 out. Let's make sure that our eye lines, that we're not looking at Jack and Brie, please. All right. And cue to package.
Narrator:
Where there would normally be shiny vehicles with price tags, there are now giant TV screens that wind around the set like a coiled snake. In the center is a large stage with a white desk, white chairs and coffee mugs that read The Daily Rip. If one breathes deep, they can still catch a whiff of that new car smell. This is where hosts Brie and Jack played by Cate Blanchett and Tyler Perry will hold court. Brie and Jack are very frivolous and very popular. They are not built for the message that astronomers Kate and Randall need to send.
Adam McKay:
I have friends of mine who work in television news who have just nakedly told me, "It's really hard for us to cover the climate emergency because our ratings go down when you do." And I was like, "Do you understand how insane that sounds?" So that's the Daily Rip.
Tyler Perry:
Okay. Well, as it's damaging, will it hit this one house in particular that's right on the coast of New Jersey? It's my ex-wife's house, I need it to be hit. Can we make that happen? [crosstalk] I will, but in all fairness, I actually pay for the house.
Cate Blanchett:
Stop...
Leonardo DiCaprio:
Tyler and Kate already seemed like they had that amazing talk show dynamic, where they had been working together for decades. They had this banter, they'd improvised a lot of their jokes together. And it just made, I think, the both of us feel completely out of place. I don't know how much they rehearsed beforehand, but I just remember it being an incredibly realistic dynamic. And they were so locked into their characters, that it was just pretty amazing to witness.
Tyler Perry:
Jack in particular, just trying to get through the day, just trying to make the show, just trying to get through the segments. You know, he gets whatever he makes on this show, and that's what his focus is. He doesn't really care. Is there a comedy? Is there not? Who cares? I just want to get out of here and go get in my hot tub, my jacuzzi.
Cate Blanchett:
I remember Dan Rather talking about that moment where news started making money. And I think that that's the space in which Brie Evantee lives. She comes from money and she know that sometimes you need to bend the truth a little to keep people's spirits up and entertain them. And I think as soon as you enter into that world, the very facts that Fox can get away with all of these libelous things because it's an entertainment channel.
Narrator:
As an aside, Cate Blanchett's right. While the FCC regulates that broadcast channels, meaning ABC, CBS and NBC, cannot air false news that may cause public harm, this limitation does not apply to cable networks. This limitation also does not apply to actors who are pretending to be cable news hosts. So, Tyler Perry and Cate Blanchett are free to improvise whatever the hell they want without getting sued.
Cate Blanchett:
Wrongly convicted murderer, Michelle Weems, talks to us about her controversial third place finish on Celebrity Dance Off.
Tyler Perry:
So controversial, I thought she would've won. I really did.
Cate Blanchett:
Yes, well, I still think she's guilty.
Narrator:
Adam told Tyler Perry to model his character on actual television hosts.
Tyler Perry:
He started talking about, "He's a cross between Michael Strahan and Joe Scarborough and Don lemon and Anderson Cooper.
Narrator:
Adam assumed that Tyler would simply watch these men on TV.
Tyler Perry:
And I'm like, okay, well I know all these people, so let me call them. And I actually sent them a little bit of the copy. I said, "Can you read this on tape and sent it back to me?" And Joe and [Mika 00:4-:57] did. And so did Michael. And I was like, "Okay, I think I got him." Adam was like, "You did what? No. Oh my God, please. I hope they weren't insulted." I was like, "No, these guys have great sense of humor, so they get it."
Narrator:
Cate Blanchett watched a lot of TV and suffered for her art.
Cate Blanchett:
I've watched a lot of television news, which I find really ... for me, it's like being beaten over the head with a, oh, I don't know with a, with a cross between a salami and a brick.
Narrator:
Yet these are the salamis that Leo and Jennifer's astronomers must turn to for help here.
Leonardo DiCaprio:
Here you have two scientists that are incredibly unmedia savvy, trying to articulate in great detail to the world that we're doomed.
Jennifer Lawrence:
They don't want to believe that I'm right, they'd rather just believe that I'm crazy. And then we can go on about our lives as normal before this crazy redhead started telling us we were going to die. It's just maddening, to be screaming into the wind.
Adam McKay:
We're living in a really harsh, tangible, 90 mile an hour wind shit storm. And I think what we're trying to do with this movie is we're trying to laugh at it too on some level. I think we have to, we're all going through it, every side of the political, religious spectrum that you can think of is experiencing this same insanity that we're living through. So, the hope with this is that we can, at least for the course of this movie, for a little over two hours, get on the same page and all laugh about just how insanely crazy it's been for 10, 20, 30 years.
Narrator:
Coming up, what's a catastrophe without a charity single?
Nicholas Britell:
Could we have a song that starts where it feels like a love song. And then as the song evolves at a certain point, you realize that it's actually really about the end of the world.
Taura Stinson:
Ariana's sang her part and the next thing I, no Kid Cudi was there and I'm like, "Oh, my God. There it goes."
Narrator:
But as Murphy's law would have it, the Don't Look Up team will end up having to film up pivotal scene just as the most dangerous threat to US democracy in a lifetime is striking the country.
Susan Matheson:
I was busy placing a feather piece on Ariana Grande and Ariana calls her mother who explained to us what was going on in Washington DC.
News Clip:
I left my phone for a few hours and I look back and the country's falling apart again.
Ariana Grande:
That's next on The Last Movie Ever Made. (silence).
Credits Narrator:
The Last Movie Ever Made is a production of Netflix Film, Hyperobject Industries and Pineapple Street Studios. It's produced by [Emanuel Hapses], Gabriel Lewis, Staci Roberts-Steele, Danielle Waxman, Sophie Bridges, and Alexis Moore. Our editor is Darby Maloney. The show's narrated by Emmanuel Hapses. Our theme song is by Nicholas [Pretel]. Mixing, sound design and original music by [Hannah Brown] with additional music from Epidemic Sound. The show is written by R. Roosevelt, fact checking by Charlotte [Gadu], executive producers at Hyperobject Industries are Adam McKay, Harry Nelson and Claire Slaughter. Executive producers at Pineapple Street studios are Bari Finkel, Jenna Weiss-Berman, and Max Linsky. Don't Look Up is streaming now on Netflix, follow @NetflixFilm on Instagram and Twitter.