Viral Mistake In 'Don't Look Up' Was Like, Totally Intentional Adam McKay Says

Welcome to ComedyNerd, Cracked's daily comedy vertical. For more ComedyNerd content, and ongoing coverage of the Iran/Contra Affair, please sign up for the ComedyNerd newsletter below.

Sign up for the Cracked Newsletter

Get the best of Cracked sent directly to your inbox!

SIGN ME UP

When Netflix's new film Don't Look Up isn't garnering certifiably mediocre reviews, forcing Leonardo DiCaprio to pretend he's attracted to women over the age of 23, or introducing a supervillain best described as what would happen if Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and Tim Cook had a gray-haired, turtleneck-sporting a-hole of a love child, the movie has proven to be extremely meta. Beyond saying that we're all probably going to die in an environmental apocalypse without actually saying we're all probably going to die in an environmental apocalypse, the flick also includes a look-up-and-you'll-miss-it “blip," as director Adam McKay dubbed it, alluding to the fact that it – perhaps every other movie that will ever be filmed for the remainder of human history -- was recorded during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

About an hour and ten minutes into the movie, we see several shots of the entire mask-clad crew – including McKay – standing around, cameras in hand, as a passerby smashes a bottle into a flaming trash bin. While at first, this inclusion seems relatively natural (us zoomers do film everything …) a number of eagle-eyed viewers noticed what, exactly was going on, quickly categorizing the clip among other famous pop culture errors, including the Game Of Thrones coffee cup and Pippin's mysteriously disappearing handcuffs in Lord of the Rings.

Sparking several articles and a handful of tweets, McKay took a break from beefing with Succession co-creator Will Ferrel to address the moment, confirming that the scene was not a mistake, but instead was like, totally intentional, you guys. 

"Good Eye!" he wrote on Twitter, linking a piece on the shots from E! News. “We left that blip of the crew in on purpose to commemorate the strange filming experience.” Ahh yes, because nothing says commemoration like including adding a cutaway that makes approximately no sense to anyone who wasn't actually on set.

So, folks, here's to Adam McKay – thank you for perfecting the art of “oh yeah, I totally meant to do that."

Top Image: Netfix 

For more internet nonsense, follow Carly on Instagram @HuntressThompson_ on Twitch @HuntressThompson_ and on Twitter @TennesAnyone.