‘Leave the World Behind’ trailer: Julia Roberts and Mahershala Ali fight back against the end of the world [Watch]

Christopher Rosen
·3 min read
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Julia Roberts and “Homecoming” director Sam Esmail have reunited for the new Netflix thriller “Leave the World Behind.” The streaming service debuted the forthcoming film’s first trailer on Monday, ahead of its fall release.

Based on the book by Rumaan Alam, “Leave the World Behind” stars Roberts and Ethan Hawke as a couple vacationing on the east end of Long Island with their teen children. One night, a man and his adult daughter (Mahershala Ali and Myha’la) arrive, claiming the rented home is theirs and that they need a place to stay following some mysterious disruption that has impacted communications around the world. In the trailer, apocalyptic imagery and disaster-movie tropes soon follow – including an appearance from a doomsday prepper-type played by Kevin Bacon – suggesting that “Leave the World Behind” might find favor with fans of M. Night Shyamalan and “The Twilight Zone,” among other classics of the genre.

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“The disaster genre is one of my favorite genres, and the trick that we did in this film that differs from most disaster films is that in that genre, the focus—the priority of the storytelling—is on the set pieces,” Esmail told Vanity Fair in a recent interview. “It’s on the spectacle of whatever the disaster might be for that story, and the characters were secondary to that. They’re more there to react and become the audience avatar. What I think Rumaan did so well in the novel, and what I tried to capture in the film is to invert that and make the focus be on the characters, and their reaction. The spectacle of the disaster is secondary and off in the distance.”

“Leave the World Behind” is the latest narrative film from Higher Ground, the production company started by former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama. The Obamas are executive producers on the film, and Esmail said President Obama proved to be a great resource during the screenwriting process.

“In the original drafts of the script, I definitely pushed things a lot farther than they were in the film, and President Obama, having the experience he does have, was able to ground me a little bit on how things might unfold in reality,” Esmail said. “I am writing what I think is fiction, for the most part, I’m trying to keep it as true to life as possible, but I’m exaggerating and dramatizing. And to hear an ex-president say you’re off by a few details…I thought I was off by a lot! The fact that he said that scared the fuck out of me.”

Esmail added that President Obama “had a lot notes about the characters and the empathy we would have for them. I have to say he is a big movie lover, and he wasn’t just giving notes about things that were from his background. He was giving notes as a fan of the book, and he wanted to see a really good film.”

The Obamas are also executive producers on this year’s “Rustin” with Colman Domingo in the lead role.

“Leave the World Behind” is in theaters on November 22. It arrives on Netflix starting on December 8.

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