Jennifer Lawrence is teaming up with Netflix for an astronomical new movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Lawrence will star in Adam McKay’s Don’t Look Up, an upcoming comedy about two scientists’ struggle to convince the world that an asteroid will hit the planet imminently.
McKay, a former Saturday Night Live writer and one-time producing partner of Will Ferrell, recently helmed award show darlings The Big Short and Vice. He is attached to Lawrence’s upcoming film Bad Blood, in which the actress is slated to portray alleged Silicon Valley drifter Elizabeth Holmes. With a Hulu series starring Kate McKinnon as Holmes in the works already, it’s unclear the state of McKay’s project, but it’s obvious that he’s a big fan of Lawrence.
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"She’s what folks in the 17th century used to call 'a dynamite talent,'” McKay said of Lawrence in a statement to THR. “And the fact that Netflix sees this movie as a worldwide comedy sets the bar high for me and my team in an exciting and motivating way.”
Comedy is a new avenue for Lawrence to explore. Though her roles are occasionally quite funny — like her Oscar-nominated American Hustle role — she’s yet to star in a straight-up comedy. Not for lack of trying: She’s reportedly co-writing a film with Amy Schumer, in which the two are set to star as sisters.
“We just had a table read two weeks ago,” Lawrence explained of the film on Watch What Happens Live in 2018. “We’ve completed the format. We need a director and we need a date.”
Lawrence, who reprised her role as Mystique in 2019 X-Men film Dark Phoenix, has not had top billing in a film since 2018’s Red Sparrow. That year, her representatives stated that she planned on taking an acting hiatus while awaiting for one of the several projects she had in development to go. In addition to her film with Schumer and McKay’s Bad Blood, Lawrence is attached to Burial Rites, a drama about a woman awaiting execution from Call Me By Your Name helmer Luca Guadagnino; Zelda, a biopic about Zelda Fitzgerald from Ron Howard; and Marita, a movie about Fidel Castro’s lover who later became a spy.
Don't Look Up is slated to drop on Netflix sometime in 2020. Make some space for Lawrence on your queue.