Inside the Hamptons Vacation Home From Netflix’s ‘Leave the World Behind’
Director Sam Esmail’s new Netflix film Leave the World Behind, an adaptation of Rumaan Alam’s best-selling novel of the same name, takes place at an eerily beautiful vacation rental on the North Shore of Long Island. In the movie, Amanda Sanford (Julia Roberts) and her husband Clay (Ethan Hawke) gather up their two teenage kids and head out for a peaceful weekend away from the city. That is, until host and homeowner G.H. Scott (Mahershala Ali) shows up in the middle of the night with his daughter Ruth (Myha’la Herrold) due to a mysterious blackout in Manhattan.
Even though the apocalyptic thriller is based on a fictional U.S. cyberattack, the house that had a starring role is 100 percent real and is actually located in the village of Old Westbury, Curbed reported. Completed in 2019, the 5,200-square-foot modern farmhouse was designed by architect John Patrick Winberry of Long Island City-based firm The Up Studio. Dubbed The Open Corner House, the project began after a fire destroyed the existing French-style estate.
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During the movie, we see the Sanfords, who are guests, stay mainly on the upper floors of the house. The living, kitchen, and dining areas all flow into one another, complemented by lots of marble, natural wood, leather, and metal hardware. In the primary suite, which cantilevers out over the pool, there’s a seascape positioned directly behind the bed. If you look closely, you’ll notice that the waves get fiercer as the tension builds.
Even though the Scotts are in their own abode, they end up having to bunker down in the in-law suite in the basement, which was created specifically for the movie. “The ceiling is very low in there, it’s a very cramped space,” set decorator David Schlesinger told Architectural Digest. “[G.H.] mentioned at one point that they had renovated the house, so we thought maybe the furnishings down there were older. It was more of a 19th-century historic vibe. We’re near the ocean, so there was a lot of thought about the sea and a nautical [feeling], the idea of it was almost like a ship’s cabin.”
The home plays a predominant role in the plot of the motion picture, providing shelter for the two families who are forced to weather the doomsday disasters that continue to occur outside. The L-shaped spread is distinctive for its sparkling infinity-edge pool, floor-to-ceiling windows, art-lined walls, and bright white brick façade. The team even went as far as to recreate the home on a soundstage that was used for half of the filming. “It’s not a cozy house, but you don’t expect things will go wrong when you step into that place,” production designer Anastasia White told Curbed.
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