The latest end-of-the-world movie coming to Netflix has some serious star power.
via: People
On Monday, Netflix debuted the first trailer for Leave the World Behind, which stars Roberts, 55, and Hawke, 52, as parents Amanda and Clay, who take their children Archie (Charlie Evans) and Rose (Farrah Mackenzie) on a weekend trip just before an apparent disaster hits the world.
Mahershala Ali’s character G.H. and his daughter Ruth (Myha’la) arrives at the rental home, claiming to be its owners — and that a massive cyberattack has been launched across the United States.
Kevin Bacon also stars in the trailer, warning the other characters that humanity has been “deserted” as a mysterious disaster strikes.
According to a synopsis, “The two families reckon with a looming disaster that grows more terrifying by the minute, forcing everyone to come to terms with their places in a collapsing world.”
The upcoming thriller comes from director Sam Esmail, who adapted the bestselling 2020 novel of the same name by Rumaan Alam.
Esmail, best known for the Mr. Robot television series, previously collaborated with Roberts on Homecoming as director and co-executive producer.
Among the production team for Leave the World Behind are former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as executive producers via their company Higher Ground Productions; the movie marks the company’s first narrative fictional feature.
Esmail, 46, told Vanity Fair in September that the former president offered a number of script notes, with the filmmaker admitting he “scared the f— out of me.”
“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 explained.
“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!”
“He had a lot notes about the characters and the empathy we would have for them,” he added. “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.”
Leave the World Behind is in select theaters Nov. 22, then streaming on Netflix Dec. 8.
