'Don't Look Up' Will Have Meryl Streep Playing The President, Because Of Course

Adam McKay's Don't Look Up has a huge, impressive cast, including Meryl Streep. The story follows two astronomers trying to warn everyone that an asteroid is headed right towards Earth, and now we know who Streep is playing in this scenario: the President of the United States. Streep will also play the mother of a character played by Jonah Hill, so she's got that going for her as well.

In case you need a reminder, here's the laundry list of stars that will be appearing in Adam McKay's Netflix movie Don't Look Up: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Jonah Hill, Timothée Chalamet, Ariana Grande, Kid Cudi, Matthew Perry, Himesh Patel, Tomer Sisley, Tyler Perry, Melanie Lynskey, and Ron Perlman. The film "tells the story of two low-level astronomers, who must go on a giant media tour to warn mankind of an approaching asteroid that will destroy planet earth," and with that cast, it's bound to get plenty of attention.

But who are all these actors playing? Well, while speaking with Stephen Colbert on The Late Show (via THR), Meryl Streep revealed she's playing the President of the United States, and that Jonah Hill was playing both her Chief of Staff and her son. Streep went on to add that the film is "about a global catastrophe, but it's sort of funny, like Dr. Strangelove for 2020, about global warming — a metaphor for that." Streep, widely hailed as the best actress of her generation, also amusingly added: "We had our first scene on Friday, and I was so bad. I just completely lost it. I couldn't remember anything. But I'm sure it'll be fine in the edit."

I like most of McKay's movies. I know some of his recent "serious" films like The Big Short and Vice rub some people the wrong way, and I admit that he does have a propensity to rely too heavily on goofy wigs and over-the-top shenanigans. But I also think it mostly works. Lots of my fellow critics downright hated Vice, but I think it did its job. That's me, though – your mileage may vary.

When Don't Look Up was first announced, Scott Stuber, head of Netflix films, said: "Adam has always had great timing when it comes to making smart, relevant and irreverent films that depict our culture. Even if he somehow ends up predicting planet Earth's imminent demise, we're excited to add this to our slate before it all comes to an end."