Leonardo DiCaprio

Leonardo DiCaprio Jumped in Frozen Lake to Save His Pet Huskies, ‘Don't Look Up' Stars Recall

“Like the Joker — they thrive in chaos,” Jonah Hill said of DiCaprio's dogs

Jennifer Lawrence, Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep and Jonah Hill
Photo by Dia Dipasupil/FilmMagic via Getty Images

The new made-for-Netflix movie "Don’t Look Up" may not have gone for a splash at the box office, but one of its leads recently recalled taking an icy dip.

Six big names from the film — actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Tyler Perry and Jonah Hill, plus director Adam McKay — chatted about the political satire for Entertainment Weekly’s “Around the Table” series in a video posted last week.  

Much of the 25-minute conversation centered around how the real-world reality of climate change inspired the fictional story of a planet-destroying comet bound for a collision course with Earth. A pair of astronomers played by DiCaprio and Lawrence make the discovery and embark on a mission to share the potentially apocalyptic news, yet find few willing to listen.

“This movie came from my burgeoning terror about the climate crisis and the fact that we live in a society that tends to place it as the fourth and fifth news story, or in some cases even deny that it’s happening, and how horrifying that is,” McKay reflected. “But at the same time, preposterously funny.”

As talk turned to entertaining stories around the movie’s filming, McKay hopped in to share “the funniest thing” that happened as Hill was staying with DiCaprio.

“Leo has these two rescue huskies that are just absolute tornadoes,” McKay said, as both Lawrence and DiCaprio butted in calling them “psychotic.”

“Like the Joker — they thrive in chaos,” Hill added, before McKay explained that Hill would send him photos of DiCaprio’s couch that had been “ripped apart” by the dogs.

Prodded along, “The Revenant” actor then began the main story, explaining how both his dogs had fallen into a frozen lake, leaving him shocked at first about what to do.

Lawrence chimed in to add details, describing how one of the dogs fell into the lake first. DiCaprio hopped in to save it, but just as he had succeeded in pushing it back to safety, his other dog jumped into the water, too.

“The other one started licking the one that was drowning, and then we were all in the frozen lake together,” DiCaprio said.

While the “Titanic” actor may have had a tragic on-scene experience in icy waters, this real-life story ended happily with everyone getting out safe.

Afterward, even while he admitted to a lack of experience with frozen lakes while living in California, he still found a way to warm up, according to Lawrence: "I'm sure you guys are all wondering, I was, too — he immediately got naked in the car," she said, drawing a laugh from both DiCaprio and McKay.    

The cast hopes there are more laughs to come soon for “Don’t Look Up” audiences, as the film is scheduled to start streaming on Netflix this Friday, Dec. 24. The comedy began a limited theatrical run on Dec. 10.

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