Leonardo DiCaprio was reportedly against Meryl Streep’s character having a nude scene in Don’t Look Up. The actor headlines the new film, the latest from The Big Short filmmaker Adam McKay, alongside Streep, Jennifer Lawrence, Timothée Chalamet and Jonah Hill. A Netflix original movie, Don’t Look up released on the streaming service last weekend.
Don’t Look Up depicts a world six months away from an apocalypse at the hands of an asteroid, and follows the group of scientists doing everything in their power the warn the world. DiCaprio portrays Dr. Randall Minday and Lawrence portrays Kate Dibiasky, two of the only people who seem interested in doing anything about the impending doom. In the film, Streep co-stars as President Janie Orlean – a leader seemingly far more concerned with her own politics than actually helping people.
With Don’t Look Up now in theaters, the cast and crew have embarked on a press tour to promote the film. Speaking with ET Canada, Don’t Look Up director McKay addressed one particular nude scene involving Streep’s Orlean, in which it is revealed that she has a lower back tattoo. McKay confirmed that DiCaprio didn’t want the scene included in the film since he sees her as “film royalty” and didn’t feel it was necessary to show the actress naked. Explaining the situation, McKay explained:
“Yes, that is a body double. But you know who had a problem with it? Leo. Leo just views Meryl as film royalty … although maybe royalty is not a compliment … but as such a special figure in the history of film. He didn’t like seeing her with the lower back tattoo, walking for a second naked. He said something to me like: ‘Do you really need to show that?’ And I was like: ‘It’s President Orlean; it’s not Meryl Streep.’ But she didn’t even blink. She didn’t even bring it up.”
Of course, it’s worth mentioning that DiCaprio and Streep have a relationship that extends far beyond their collaboration on Don’t Look Up. In fact, the duo actually played mother and son in the 1996 film Marvin’s Room. Viewed through that lens, it’s arguably not that difficult to understand why DiCaprio may feel somewhat protective of his former on-screen mom, especially since Streep is lauded as an icon in the film industry. In fact, it seems that though this complaint was specific only to DiCaprio, as McKay made sure to note that Streep was game for the scene and had no issues with how it was executed in the final cut of Don’t Look Up.
Ultimately, all of this speaks to the collaborative nature of filmmaking and the back and forth that goes into crafting scenes, which can sometimes take actors out of their comfort zones. At the end of the day, DiCaprio did not have control over the movie as its star. As a result, Don’t Look Up does indeed include a nude scene for Streep’s extreme presidential caricature, but the actress herself didn’t have to appear in it. Of course, these kinds of sensitive scenes must be handled in a compromise that works well for all parties, and a professional like Streep isn’t one to let a single scene get in her way.
