In the satirical comedy "Don't Look Up: Cosmic Denial", the star and her partner Jennifer Lawrence play two obscure astronomers who vainly try to alert a divided American public opinion, in a country ruled by an incompetent president played by Meryl Streep .
Returning from the COP26 conference in Glasgow on the climate, Leonardo DiCaprio believes that the film written and directed by Adam McKay succeeds in creating suspense on a crisis which "spans more than a century".
"As a species, society and culture, how can we politically manage an imminent apocalypse?" Asked the actor Thursday night in Los Angeles during the presentation of the film.
"In two hours, the film manages to show the absurdity of our response, as a human species, to this crisis," he continues.
The film, which also features Ariana Grande, Cate Blanchett, Mark Rylance and Jonah Hill, will be released in the United States on December 10 before being broadcast on the Netflix platform from December 24.
Adam McKay ("Vice") has become one of Hollywood's hottest directors and some critics predict "Don't Look Up" has a bright future in the Oscar race.
Leonardo DiCaprio dreams that the film will inspire companies and governments to take "a radical turn" on the climate crisis.
But he admits that he is not overly optimistic about humanity's ability to tackle the problem head-on.
"Especially coming back from Glasgow and seeing how such commitments can be abandoned by the first crazy government that comes in," he said.
Adopted last Saturday at the end of two weeks of laborious negotiations by the 200 countries of the COP26, the "Glasgow Pact for the climate" aims to accelerate the fight against global warming, without ensuring to contain it to 1, 5 ° C nor respond to requests for assistance from poor countries.
"Time is so limited and we have to act on such a scale very quickly," notes Leonardo DiCaprio.
"And if we do nothing, we know how it's going to end," he warns.
© 2021 AFP