Don't Look Up Director Claims This Weird Mistake In The Film Was Actually Intentional

Adam McKay's "Don't Look Up" stars Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio, two Oscar winners who lead a star-studded ensemble cast in the satirical sci-fi narrative now available on Netflix. When doctoral candidate Kate Dibiasky (Lawrence) discovers a comet fast approaching earth, she consults with her professor, Dr. Randall Mindy (DiCaprio), who calculates that the comet is likely civilization-destroying — and will hit the planet in about six months. From there, Kate and Randall embark on a media tour to warn humanity, but soon face hurdles, such as denials from the media and the government. Additional cast members include Meryl Streep, Jonah Hill, Rob Morgan, Cate Blanchett, Tyler Perry, and Mark Rylance.

After beginning a limited theatrical run on December 10, the film was released to Netflix on December 24. Since then, "Don't Look Up" has racked up a staggering amount of hours watched by viewers, keeping the film firmly cemented at the number one spot of Netflix's Top 10. One of those many viewers watching "Don't Look Up" spotted a bit of an editing mistake — or so they thought — and spotlighted it on social media. As it turns out, the mistake was actually intentional, according to McKay.

TikTok user @sightpicture, the viewer who spotted an editing mistake in "Don't Look Up," posted the scene to TikTok earlier this week. The short video details a moment in which the film crew can be seen near a group of the characters, including Jennifer Lawrence's Kate and Timothée Chalamet's Yule. The TikToker narrates the video, commenting, "You can see the whole film crew standing here for, like, three of four frames. They're like, 'Oh, they probably won't notice that!'" Seeing as the shot has nothing to do with the film's narrative and that on-screen mistakes occasionally happen, it makes sense that @sightpicture assumed it to be a mistake.

However, director Adam McKay took to Twitter to acknowledge that this is a brief shot of the film crew and confirmed it was actually left there on purpose by the editing team. The "Don't Look Up" helmer posted E! Online's coverage about the so-called "mistake" and wrote, "Good eye! We left that blip of the crew in on purpose to commemorate the strange filming experience." 

McKay is, of course, referring to the fact that "Don't Look Up" was filmed in the middle of a COVID-19 pandemic, complete with strict safety protocols, from November 2020 to February 2021 (via Boston.com). After all, this would explain why, in the shot of the film crew, the majority of them are wearing masks.