Adam McKay Praises Ariana Grande’s Improv Skills in Don’t Look Up

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Adam McKay Praises Ariana Grande’s Improv Skills in Don’t Look Up

Adam McKay’s latest film, Don’t Look Up, features a wide variety of cameos from celebrities. One of those cameos comes from Ariana Grande, who wowed the director with her improvisational skills.

Speaking to Netflix during a new behind-the-scenes video of the recently released film, McKay confirmed that Grande had done a lot of improv on the set of the film, including during her performance of a song late in the film.

“Ariana Grande most certainly did improvise,” revealed McKay in a behind-the-scenes video. “In fact, her best improv was when she sang the song for the first time. She’s the one who added all that stuff about, ‘we’re all going to die, turn off that shitbox news.’ That was her riffing on the first scratch track of the melody line, and the second I heard it I was like, ‘Oh, that’s going in the movie.’ And that might be one of my favorite moments in the movie, where you have pretty much the biggest popstar in the world singing beautifully ‘we’re all going to die.’ Every time I see it, it’s just this hilarious cognitive dissonance with it. So, Ariana Grande can definitely improvise.”

Don’t Look Up‘s all-star ensemble cast is led by DiCaprio and Lawrence as two low-level astronomers, who must go on a giant media tour to warn mankind of an approaching comet that will destroy planet Earth. Rounding out the cast is Morgan, Hill, Mark Rylance, Tyler Perry, Timothée Chalamet, Ron Perlman, Ariana Grande, Scott Mescudi, Himesh Patel, Melanie Lynskey, Michael Chiklis, Tomer Sisley with Cate Blanchett, and Streep. It is also expected to feature Matthew Perry, Chris Evans, and more cameo appearances.

“Kate Dibiasky, an astronomy grad student, and her professor Dr. Randall Mindy make an astounding discovery of a comet orbiting within the solar system,” reads the official synopsis. “The problem — it’s on a direct collision course with Earth. The other problem? No one really seems to care. Turns out warning mankind about a planet-killer the size of Mount Everest is an inconvenient fact to navigate. With the help of Dr. Oglethorpe, Kate and Randall embark on a media tour that takes them from the office of an indifferent President Orlean and her sycophantic son and Chief of Staff, Jason, to the airwaves of The Daily Rip, an upbeat morning show hosted by Brie and Jack. With only six months until the comet makes impact, managing the 24-hour news cycle and gaining the attention of the social media obsessed public before it’s too late proves shockingly comical — what will it take to get the world to just look up?!”

Don’t Look Up is based on a story by McKay and David Sirota. It is produced by McKay and Kevin Messick through their Hyperobject Industries banner.