Who does Ariana Grande play in Don't Look Up? Singer reportedly improvised parts of her song for the movie

While Ariana Grande has gained global recognition for her music, it was acting with which she started her career as a teenager. Even after releasing song after song that topped the Billboard chart, the singer-songwriter never let go of any opportunity to act, be it big or small.

One such opportunity came to her in 2020 when director Adam McKay approached her for a cameo appearance in his satire comedy Don't Look Up, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio. Ariana played the character of Riley Bina, a superstar, in the movie.

In a December 2021 BTS featurette shared by Netflix, McKay addressed the improvisation that took place on the set, speaking about Ariana Grande, saying:

"Her best improv was when she sang the song for the first time."

Don't Look Up was released in select theaters on December 10, 2021, and dropped on Netflix on December 24, 2021.

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Adam McKay praised Ariana Grande's improvisation in Don't Look Up

Speaking in the featurette with Netflix, Adam McKay talked about the rule he was very particular about on the sets of Don't Look Up, saying:

“The rule I always say is, let’s get the written version because we’ve then fulfilled the legal obligation of our contract. Then once you have it, you’re free."

Going on to praise Ariana Grande's improvisation on stage, he added:

“Ariana Grande most certainly did improvise. She’s the one who added all that stuff about, ‘We’re all gonna die. Turn off that s***box news’. That was her riffing on the first scratch track of the melody line, and the second I heard it, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s going in the movie.’”

In the movie, Ariana Grande's character, Riley Bina, was initially shown to be broken up with her longtime beau, DJ Cello, played by Kid Cudi. However, while talking about her breakup on a news show, she made up with him over a video call and even declared themselves engaged to the world on live TV.

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Ariana Grande called her character in the movie an "aloof popstar" on Jimmy Fallon show

A month ahead of Don't Look Up's release in 2021, Ariana Grande was invited as a guest on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, where the subject of Grande acting alongside Leonardo DiCaprio came up. The 7 Rings singer then described the character she played in the upcoming movie, saying:

"I play Riley Bina, who is this aloof and somewhat unaware pop star whose relationship with DJ Cello, played by the amazing Kid Cudi - the news about their relationship fluctuating sort of eclipses the news of the Earth coming to an end, which is great."

Don't Look Up revolves around Doctor Randall Mindy, a professor at Michigan State University, and his doctorate student, Kate Dibiasky, who discovers a comet, only to realize that it has been traveling towards the Earth and could wipe out the entire planet upon collision. The collision itself would happen in no more than six months.

The rest of the comedy follows Mindy and Dibiasky's attempts to bring the truth about the end of the world to light. The President of the US, played by Meryl Streep, makes light of their revelation, subduing it under political play. The same happens when they try to leak information on a news channel.

Later, when the President's s** scandal is exposed, she decides to launch an intervention mission against Dibiasky's comet (named after her) to divert the attention of her voters.

At the last minute, however, Isherwell, a wealthy CEO and investor, decides to cancel the mission in hopes of mining the rare-earth elements found on the comet, which, in his estimation, could be worth trillions of dollars, failing to realize that none of it will mean anything as the comet destroys the very planet they're living on.

At the end of all the chaos, the comet ends up hitting the planet, triggering an extinction-level event. Isherwell, and others in the elite circle board a sleeper spaceship to escape the planet before the comet strikes it, only to find themselves on a habitable planet where they end up becoming food for the bird-like predators inhabiting it.

About a year after Don't Look Up was released, Ariana Grande was approached by director John M. Chu to play Glinda in his upcoming movie, a cinematic adaptation of the musical Wicked. With its production complete now, the film will release at the box office on November 22, 2024.