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The world premiere of "Don't Look Up" was held at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City.
The photo was taken for Netflix.
In the new space comedy Don't Look Up, scientists scramble to save the world from a "planet-killer." It is a comet in the movie. Humans are more likely to conjure up the vehicle of our demise in our own lives, whether it is through climate change or the patriarchy. The movie deals with some of the thornier themes.
A scene in which a grad student played by Lawrence discovers a comet is real-world NASA astronomer Amy Mainzer's experience with comets. Last year, Mainzer and her team discovered a comet in the northern hemisphere. Mainzer helped flesh out Lawrence's character and the other scientists in the film, and bring some real science to a movie about the end of times.
What to do about the end of the world.
Mainzer is one of the world's leading scientists in asteroid detection and planetary defense, and she's also using remote sensing to find invasive species that fuel wildfires. The end of the world was talked about by Mainzer.
The interview has been edited for clarity and length.
NASA launched a mission to slam into an asteroid to see if it can stop one from colliding with Earth in the future. The DART mission is compared to the worst-case scenario in the movie.
Depending on how much time you have, how big the object is, and other details, there are a number of different techniques you can try. The worst-case scenario in the movie is what you see. It is extremely unlikely to happen in our lifetimes or even a couple generations down the road. That is great news. If the object is small and you have enough time, you can try to push it out of the way by just bumping into it. That is the simplest thing.
All of these techniques are dependent on the ability to find the objects ahead of time and make sure that we know exactly where they are going so that we have a number of different options available to us. The search and discovery part is what I am working on. The Near-Earth Object Surveyor is a project that I worked on that is designed to find more asteroids and comets before any potential close approaches.
What do you hope people don't see?
Science is important in our daily lives. It is there even if we don't think about it. The physical processes that determine how the world works are what operate on our lives. Those are happening to us. Climate change and the Pandemic are what we see every day.
We hope that people will take into account science when making their decisions. We are more likely to have a good outcome if we use the science we have at our disposal.
How did you work with the other actors? What was it like?
They were great to work with because they are both huge nerds. I mean that as a compliment. They are very interested in science. They were interested in portraying scientists as fully realized human beings. Scientists are often seen as caricatures in film. Either they are evil or a joke, they don't really represent scientists as people doing a job and trying to do the best they can. This was an important part of the movie. I hope people get a sense of who scientists are when they watch it. I think that the cast did a great job of bringing humanity to scientists who are just trying to do their jobs and bring what they are learning to everyone else.
They are halfway through their PhDs in orbital dynamics.
We had so many calls. All the calls. We were trying to work through some of the logistical challenges by texting and calling. There is a debate about the role of activism in the movie. If you are a scientist and you have news to give to people that are not good, what do you do? Do you try to say it in a way that is nice? Do you protest in the streets? Do you try to work with people who are in power even if you disagree with them? What do you do? We worked on how to present that in a way that is believable and helps to humanize the characters.
And then the dialogue. Both of them are halfway through their PhDs in orbital dynamics, and some of it is extremely technical. They gave it their all on the technical dialogue.
When you are working daily on a potential apocalypse, you have feelings of anxiety and fear, so I felt like I was humanizing these characters. How do you manage that sense of crisis when it comes to climate change?
We watch a lot of comedies in my house. Don't Look Up is a comedy and hopefully people will enjoy it. That helps us keep going. Finding good friends and good people to work with is important. It is essential to find the moments of joy and levity where you can work on a serious subject.
The role of the arts is important. Science teaches us about the nature of the world around us. The arts allow us to process what we learn about it, bring it to other people, and then bring it home to them. It helps us cope, not just as scientists, but as people.
I am a science reporter. There are some obvious double standards that exist when it comes to the film's depiction of a scientist and his male colleague played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Did you consult on that as well? What has it been like to work in science?
This aspect of the character was done well by Lawrence. There are a number of instances in the film where she just faces this really institutionalized misogyny. That is pervasive and affects her work. It slows her down. It is draining her energy as a person and as a scientist. That is very common throughout the sciences. It is there. It is. It is in many different fields. It is based on many aspects of identity, not just gender. I always try to look for the hopeful thing in the situation, and I think there is a lot of excellent work in the social sciences now to try to help figure out the best ways from a scientific standpoint to combat some of this. To use the tools of science to improve the situation. Other scientists can help us figure out how to best alleviate the situation, and we ourselves can be subjects for study. That brings me some hope.
