A UdeM Grad Played Leonardo DiCaprio's Hand In The Netflix Movie 'Don't Look Up'

Netflix's film Don't Look Up features an impressive cast, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep and, it turns out, part of a former Montreal student. Michaël Marsset, a Université de Montréal graduate specializing in astrophysics, doubled as Leonardo DiCaprio's hand in an important scene at the beginning of the movie.

After spotting a massive comet in space, Kate Dibiasky, played by Jennifer Lawrence, quickly notifies Professor Randall Mindy, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, of the chilling discovery. The revelation leads DiCaprio's character into a calculative session on the whiteboard measuring the comet's trajectory, and guess whose hand wrote out the equation? None other than Marsset himself.

In an interview with UdeM Nouvelles, Marsset said that production had reached out to the head of the astrophysics department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where Michaël was studying at the time, casting for a hand double for Leonardo DiCaprio. While Marsset thought it was a joke at first, he was assured it would make for a great opportunity, so he applied.

After contacting production, Marsset was asked to send photos and videos of his hands. "I sent a funny video where I write an equation on a whiteboard and an asteroid falls on top of me," Michaël shared. Much to his excitement, he successfully landed the part.

"I was very happy! For me, Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the greatest actors of his generation," Marsset told UdeM Nouvelles.

Michaël spent four days on set near Boston, he said. "It was an extremely long process, the same scenes are repeated with cameras filming from different angles."

Despite the long hours, it sounds like it was all worth it considering he got to meet Leonardo DiCaprio. "I was delighted to have the chance to meet him," Michaël admitted — and it's safe to say we're all a little jealous.

Marsset was also asked about the likelihood of a comet hitting Earth the way it did in Don't Look Up, and luckily, we've got nothing to worry about. "Fortunately, this is extremely unlikely. A comet with a diameter of 10 km that would strike the Earth is an event that happens on average every 50 million years. The last time was in the time of the dinosaurs!" Marsset reassured. Phew!