Don’t Look Up

Adam McKay Gushes Over Ariana Grande And Kid Cudi’s Acting Performances In ‘Don’t Look Up’

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Ariana Grande Kid Cudi Don't Look Up
Netflix

Ariana Grande and Kid Cudi’s involvement with Don’t Look Up doesn’t stop at their song “Just Look Up,” as they also have substantial parts in the film. Furthermore, Adam McKay has heaped praise on the two for their performances in the movie.

McKay said of Grande, “It made sense to have the biggest pop star in the world play the biggest pop star in the world. We got her on set for her first scene with [Leonardo DiCaprio] and [Jennifer Lawrence], and she’s improvising lines. I knew she’d nail the song, but I didn’t know she could improvise.”

He spoke more about Grande’s improvisational skills in a recent video from Netflix about the movie’s improv, starting at 4:19 into the video.

Grande also offered a quote about McKay, saying, “Adam’s one of my comedy heroes. I was jumping out of my skin when he pitched me the idea of playing this pop star in this yucky tabloid frenzy. Playing this little part and getting to work with Adam and this beyond incredible cast was such a special experience.”

McKay also had compliments for Cudi, saying, “[I] knew who Kid Cudi was, but in meeting Scott Mescudi, I was completely taken aback. He can really act. He was immediately natural on set and such a humble guy. Scott was incredibly open and collaborative.”

Of course, it makes sense that both Cudi and Grande would be comfortable on a set, as they’ve both spent plenty of time in that environment. Before music, Grande was known for playing the character Cat Valentine in two Nickelodeon series, Victorious and Sam & Cat. As for Cudi, he been in the main cast of shows like How To Make It In America, Comedy Bang! Bang!, and We Are Who We Are.

Kid Cudi Clarifies How To Pronounce His Name: ‘This Has Been Bothering Me For 13 Years’

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Most of the world knows Kid Cudi as, well, Kid Cudi, but if you somehow got a hold of the rapper’s driver’s license, it would show his real name, Scott Mescudi. “Mescudi” isn’t exactly as common a last name as something like “Smith” or “Williams,” so it wouldn’t be surprising to learn that the name has been mispronounced a lot over the years. Well, Cudi was on The Tonight Show yesterday, and while chatting with Jimmy Fallon, he took a minute to teach the world how to say his name.

After discussing the origin of his stage name, Fallon sought clarification about how to pronounce Cudi’s real last name, asking, “Is it… ‘mess-CUD-e,’” pronouncing the last two syllables like how one would say “Cudi.” With a smile, Cudi said, “We’re going to do this right now. I really want everybody to learn how to pronounce my last name. This has been bothering me for 13 years. I know I kind of confuse everybody with my rap name. It’s ‘MESS-cud-e.’”

That lesson was preceded by Cudi telling Fallon that he started his music career with the Lil Wayne-inspired rap name Lil Scott before shifting to Kid Mesc, which ended up causing confusion and people pronouncing it like “Kid Mess.” Eventually, he landed on Kid Cudi, which has clearly stuck.

Elsewhere during the conversation, Cudi spoke about his role in Don’t Look Up and the alter ego he made for himself when he used to work at Applebee’s, so watch the full chat above.

Ariana Grande And Kid Cudi Give A Grand Performance Of ‘Just Look Up’ In ‘Don’t Look Up’

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The latest Netflix movie, the Jennifer Lawrence- and Leonardi DiCaprio-starring Don’t Look Up, is out today, and music fans have surely heard by now that Ariana Grande and Kid Cudi have roles, playing music power couple Riley Bina and DJ Chello, respectively. They shared “Just Look Up,” the song they made for the film, last week, and now that the movie is out, they’ve shared the scene from the film in which they perform it live.

The scene shows Grande’s character performing the song with a grand stage set-up that doesn’t look dissimilar to something she’d present on one of her tours. Grande wears a white outfit with feather-like protrusions sticking out of her torso, and Cudi’s character later joins her on stage with a complementary white jacket. All the while, Lawrence and DiCaprio’s characters are watching from the side of the stage, as one brief shot shows.

Of all modern music stars, Grande and Cudi are among the ones with the most acting experience. Before music, Grande was best known for playing the character Cat Valentine in two Nickelodeon series, Victorious and Sam & Cat. Meanwhile, Cudi has been in the main cast of shows like How To Make It In America, Comedy Bang! Bang!, and We Are Who We Are.

Watch Cudi and Grande perform “Just Look Up” above.

Ariana Grande And Kid Cudi Are Majestic And Captivating On ‘Just Look Up’

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Ariana Grande and Kid Cudi are more or less a year removed from the release of their most recent albums, those being Positions and Man On The Moon III: The Chosen. In the months that have followed, both artists have contributed to a collection of songs, and now, Grande and Cudi connect for their first collaboration. The track is titled “Just Look Up” and it appears in the newly-released Netflix film, ironically titled Don’t Look Up. The track is quite the majestic and captivating release that makes for an very satisfying combination from two artists who are quite different.

Don’t Look Up arrives on Netflix complete with an A-list cast that includes Grande, Cudi, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Jonah Hill, and more. Lawrence spoke about meeting Grande while shooting the film during a conversation with Vanity Fair. Lawrence said Grande “plays a pop star named Riley Bina And that was, like, one of the coolest days of my life. I took a picture with her—I looked like a radio contest winner. She couldn’t be nicer.”

Elsewhere, Grande also delivered a great cover of Britney Spears’ “Oops I Did It Again.” As for Cudi, he recently honored the late Virgil Abloh with a touching Instagram post. He also teamed up with Willow and Travis Barker for a remix of their “Transparent” collaboration.

You can listen to “Just Look Up” in the video above

Ariana Grande And Kid Cudi Cozy Up In The First Look At The Movie ‘Don’t Look Up’

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Today saw Netflix share the first teaser of the upcoming movie Don’t Look Up, which has a stacked cast and follows two astronomers trying to warn the world of impending doom. Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardi DiCaprio play the lead roles, and also getting some screen time are Ariana Grande and Kid Cudi, whose appearances are previewed in the teaser.

Both of their appearances in the clip are super brief: A photo of Cudi’s character is displayed on screen during a broadcast of an in-movie show called The Daily Rip, while we get just a quick shot of Grande shifting her focus from one thing to another. There’s not much to go on there, but we can determine that Cudi and Grande’s characters appear to have some level of familiarity with each other: EW shared some photos from the film today, and in one of them, Cudi and Grande snuggle up together, smiling with drinks in hand.

It’s not too surprising to see Grande and Cudi here, as they’re two of music’s most experienced actors: Grande’s first brush with fame was her role in the Nickelodeon show Victorious and its spin-off series Sam & Cat, while Cudi had starring roles in How to Make It In America and Comedy Bang! Bang!.

Aside from the aforementioned, the movie also stars Jonah Hill, Meryl Streep, Mark Rylance, Tyler Perry, Matthew Perry, Timothée Chalamet, Ron Perlman, and Cate Blanchett.

Watch the Don’t Look Up trailer above.

Ariana Grande And Kid Cudi Cozy Up In The First Look At The Movie ‘Don’t Look Up’

by

Today saw Netflix share the first teaser of the upcoming movie Don’t Look Up, which has a stacked cast and follows two astronomers trying to warn the world of impending doom. Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardi DiCaprio play the lead roles, and also getting some screen time are Ariana Grande and Kid Cudi, whose appearances are previewed in the teaser.

Both of their appearances in the clip are super brief: A photo of Cudi’s character is displayed on screen during a broadcast of an in-movie show called The Daily Rip, while we get just a quick shot of Grande shifting her focus from one thing to another. There’s not much to go on there, but we can determine that Cudi and Grande’s characters appear to have some level of familiarity with each other: EW shared some photos from the film today, and in one of them, Cudi and Grande snuggle up together, smiling with drinks in hand.

It’s not too surprising to see Grande and Cudi here, as they’re two of music’s most experienced actors: Grande’s first brush with fame was her role in the Nickelodeon show Victorious and its spin-off series Sam & Cat, while Cudi had starring roles in How to Make It In America and Comedy Bang! Bang!.

Aside from the aforementioned, the movie also stars Jonah Hill, Meryl Streep, Mark Rylance, Tyler Perry, Matthew Perry, Timothée Chalamet, Ron Perlman, and Cate Blanchett.

Watch the Don’t Look Up trailer above.