In most disaster films, the disaster is the main character. Hurricane. Tsunami. Megalodon. Godzilla.
Not so in director Sam Esmail’s (“Mr. Robot”) tense reworking of Rumaan Alam’s 2020 bestseller of the same name, “Leave The World Behind” (now available on Netflix).
The disaster is never clearly defined in this film, but its effects – from Wi-Fi outages to deer infestations to beached cargo ships – heighten paranoia in a vacationing couple (Ethan Hawke and Julia Roberts), their teenagers (Charlie Evans and Farrah Mackenzie), and a mysterious duo (Mahershala Ali and Myha’la) who appear late at night in the doorway of their rented home.
“It’s a disaster movie that reorients you away from the disaster and towards the disintegration of these six characters,” said Esmail. “In some ways, it betrays the genre, but that made me more excited about doing it.”
Esmail spoke with USA TODAY about reworking elements of the book for his film, how Roberts was his first choice for prickly Amanda, and receiving script notes from former President Barack Obama, who helped back the film through his and Michelle Obama’s production company Higher Ground.
The main differences between the film and book versions of ‘Leave The World Behind’ Alam’s novel is anchored to a mysterious blackout in New York City that forces George, or G.H. (Ali), and Ruth (Myha’la) to return to their opulent Long Island home, which Amanda (Roberts) and her family have rented.
Esmail says he’s long been fascinated by cyberattacks (“they’re out there and they’re mystifying”) and decided to incorporate them as an extra layer into his film, resulting in eerily garbled smartphone news alerts and other unsettling plot points.
The most significant change was made to the character of Ruth, who is G.H.’s wife in the book. Ruth is now his snarling daughter in the film. “Because this subject of alienation is so timely, I felt we needed that Gen Z and millennial point of view, not just for her commentary on the crisis but also for the friction with Amanda,” he goes on to say.
Imagine Julia Roberts as unpleasant and racist, and you have Amanda, her ‘Leave The World Behind’ character, whose unwavering suspicion of G.H. and Ruth keeps the film on a constant boil. However, her motivations can be seen in two ways: at times unflinchingly racist (how can these Black people be the owners of this ultra-fancy vacation home, she suggests), and at others borderline reasonable (why are these strangers showing up at our door at nearly midnight claiming there’s a blackout?).
Roberts walks the tightrope with care, just as Esmail had hoped. “She was my only choice for this role,” he said. “If you need to pull off something insane like this movie, Julia is the Michael Jordan of actors.” Amanda is so prickly and flawed that you need both great talent and undeniable charm to keep the audience with her.
“I think her America’s Sweetheart persona is why this was exciting,” he goes on to say. “After test screenings, some people said they could see her (character’s) point of view about not wanting to let these strangers in so late.”
Yes, Barack Obama did give notes for scenes in ‘Leave The World Behind,’ according to Esmail. Obama used his White House years to help fine-tune some of the film’s technological disaster elements, reassuring the director that some of the film’s more dystopian implications were less likely.
Instead, according to Esmail, Obama spent the majority of his time focusing on the character interactions that crumbled during the crisis.
“Here we have one of the most brilliant minds on the planet making sure we kept focusing on this cautionary tale about mistrust,” he said. “He’s a movie lover and a fan of the book, so what he really wanted to emphasise with me was hitting on this point about how lack of empathy that can happen in a crisis and what that means for us all.”