Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke play an American couple confronting a cataclysmic event in the cinematic adaptation of Leave the World Behind.
Directed by Sam Esmail (Mr. Robot) and based on the best-selling 2020 novel by Rumaan Alam, Leave the World Behind is set to premiere on Netflix on December 8. The streamer recently debuted a teaser for the psychological thriller film.
Amanda (Roberts) and Clay (Hawke) are vacationing with their teenaged kids in a luxurious holiday home in Long Island. A black couple, played by Mahershala Ali and Myha’la Herrold, arrives at their door one night. The actual owners of the house, they tell of an extended blackout and seek refuge for the night. The blackouts appear brought on by a cross-country cyberattack. “The truth is much scarier,” G. H. (Ali) says. “What is the truth?” Amanda asks.
Her query is followed by a series of strange and terrifying images: floods, plane wrecks, Clay speeding off under swirls of blood-coloured rain. We also meet Kevin Bacon as a nutty construction worker spewing the gospel of doom.
“A family vacation on Long Island is interrupted by two strangers bearing news of a mysterious blackout. As the threat grows more imminent, both families must decide how best to survive the potential crisis, all while grappling with their own place in this collapsing world,” reads a synopsis of Leave the World Behind. The film is backed by Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company, Higher Ground.
Julia Roberts last appeared in the romantic comedy Ticket to Paradise alongside George Clooney. She also starred in the political thriller series Gaslit.
