The Story Behind the Dramatic Transformations of Don’t Look Up’s Star-Studded Cast
Who would have guessed that 2021’s most star-studded film would be an allegorical climate change comedy? The idea might seem outlandish on paper, but director Adam McKay’s timely feature, Don’t Look Up, comments on the environmental crisis in a way that’s wholly original. As its academic protagonists, played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence, attempt to inform the populace about the comet hurtling towards the earth, they’re forced to deal with clueless politicians, soulless bureaucrats, and a media more interested in ratings than serving the public good. The antics onscreen reflect the contradictions of the current cultural moment thanks to both McKay’s sharp script and a cast that includes Cate Blanchett, Timothée Chalamet, Ariana Grande, Jonah Hill, and Meryl Streep.
As they confront the apocalypse, each familiar face has been dramatically transformed. Lawrence gets a red dye job and an undercut to play a nonconformist grad student, DiCaprio’s movie star s good looks are hidden beneath wire-framed glasses and tweed blazers, and Chalamet dons an epic mullet. The makeovers add to the feeling that the world we’re witnessing is just slightly off-kilter—one where Grande’s vocals can still top the charts, but without the aid of her famous ponytail. For costume designer Susan Matheson, creating the film’s distinctive mood meant exploring one of her favorite archetypes. “That characters I love are always going to be gritty outsiders,” she says. “Someone who is a bit of an iconoclast and doesn’t follow the same path as everyone else. I get very excited whenever there is any character like that, but here, we had several.”
Having collaborated regularly with McKay since 2006’s Talladega Nights, Matheson has seen the director move from creating iconic comedies to Academy Award-winning satires. Before their partnership, Matheson specialized in costumes for dramas like Crazy/Beautiful and Friday Night Lights. “I was known for doing gritty, realistic movies, so when I first got the call from Adam, I was shocked,” says Matheson. “Before Talledega, I hadn’t done a comedy, and I felt like it was such a different world, but in the end, it worked out pretty well.”
Matheson would infuse the NASCAR-focused film with references to Americana—Wonderbread patches on racing uniforms, the Old Spice logo splashed on jackets—keeping the focus on the story’s humor rather than outfitting the characters in zany outfits to hammer the point home. “In a lot of comedies, the costumes are over the top, so you know the moment is meant to be funny before anything is said,” explains Matheson. “Adam’s whole point was that you don’t want to signal the scene is funny in advance; you want to let things unfold until that audience realizes the joke. It was important to him that we ground everything in reality.”
That approach carried over into Don’t Look Up, where real-world counterparts inspired each character’s wardrobe; Lawrence’s collegiate scientist Kate Diabiasky, for example, began with an extensive study of aspiring astrophysicists. “I think I looked at every picture of an astrophysics grad student in the world,” says Matheson. “What I found was that a lot of them would wear down puffer jackets, jeans, and boots because a lot of the time, these observatories they work in are quite high and cold.” The deep dive eventually led her to images of students who diverged from that formula with expressive dye jobs and body art. “One woman had blue hair and tattoos, another who is very respected has this incredible dyed red hair and wears edgy t-shirts,” she continues. “Once I saw them, I knew it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility for Jennifer’s character to do something similar.”
With authenticity in mind, Matheson scoured secondhand shops for handmade sweaters and faux fur coats, before going on an exhaustive search for the perfect combat boots. “I just remember back in the day when I went to clubs having this vintage faux leopard coat, and I knew we had to get one for her,” she says. “Then, with the boots, we needed something different from the usual pairs you always see in movies, [as] I didn’t want to use anything typical for Kate. I wound up finding this company in Italy called Moma—no relation to the museum—that craft these incredible boots with a much bigger toe cap and use aging machines to create a patina on the leather. Jennifer and I are the same shoe size, so I’d be walking around my office in them to stretch them out and make sure they’re wearable.”