In the Netflix film, Academy award-winners Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio play two astronomers who set out to warn the world of an approaching comet set to destroy the planet.

But the message falls on deaf ears, starting with Meryl Streep’s president Janie Orlean.

“I think the big trick is we want you to laugh … the great thing about test screening the movie was right-, left-wing were all laughing,” McKay, known for “The Big Short” and “Vice”, said at the film’s premiere on Sunday night.

“The commonality we’re going for here is, what have we done to each other? This polarisation and this nonsense … can’t we get back to basics? So it’s kind of political and, at the same time, completely not political.”

Three-time Oscar winner Streep, whose character’s first reaction to the bad news is “to sit tight and assess”, said the movie’s message was simple: “We know what’s coming and we know we can do something about it.”

The comedy sees DiCaprio and Lawrence’s characters desperately try to get their message across and kick off a media campaign.

“I think we all looked at this as an incredibly unique gift,” DiCaprio, himself a vocal environmental campaigner, said.

“We’d all been wanting to get the message out there about the climate crisis and Adam really cracked the code with creating this narrative.”

The film also stars Cate Blanchett, Jonah Hill, Rob Morgan, Tyler Perry, Mark Rylance and singer Ariana Grande.

“Don’t Look Up”, which will have a limited theatrical release, begins streaming on Netflix on Dec 24.