A new disaster movie starring Julia Roberts had an unusual consultant on the script former president Barack Obama. Based on the 2020 novel by Rumaan Alam, Leave the World Behind follows a couple, played by Roberts and Ethan Hawke, who embark on a Long Island vacation just before the apocalypse rears its head. Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail wrote and directed the film for Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company Higher Ground, which has produced award-winning documentaries like American Factory and historical dramas like the upcoming Rustin.
Esmail spoke to Vanity Fair about the former president’s involvement in the creative 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 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! The fact that he said that scared the f— out of me,” Esmail said
The filmmaker also said that Obama deemed some of Esmail’s plot points too pessimistic, which “reassured” the director that his bleakest nightmares weren’t particularly likely.
Obama’s pointers extended beyond mere logistics. Since he put the source novel on his 2021 book recommendations list, he also had ideas about how the material could translate into a movie. “He had a lot [of] notes about the characters and the empathy we would have for them,” Esmail continued. “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 premieres in theaters on Nov. 22, and hits Netflix Dec. 8.
Source: People
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