“Leave the World Behind,” an acclaimed novel about strange folks struggling to manage as a gradual and mysterious catastrophe shuts down the world, felt topical when it was revealed throughout the unfurling pandemic of 2020.
So the world premiere of its star-studded Netflix movie adaptation at AFI Fest in Los Angeles this week, at a time when the world is wracked by battle, and Hollywood itself is paralyzed by a prolonged actors’ strike, carries an additional resonance, filmmakers mentioned.
“The notion that the world has ever been secure, or that the next day has ever been given, is sort of an illusion. And that’s what the book is talking about,” writer Rumaan Alam advised AFP on the purple carpet Wednesday.
“It was revealed right into a second the place that appeared particularly in stark aid due to Covid. But I’d argue that that is in all probability how our grandparents felt about actuality.
“Life is always sort of a gamble. What is normal?”
The film — starring Julia Roberts, and produced by Barack and Michelle Obama’s firm Higher Ground — will stream on Netflix from December 8.
Its plot sees a rich white New York household rent a luxurious trip house in a distant pocket of Long Island.
Their leisure is shattered when a Black father and daughter claiming to be the home’s homeowners arrive on the entrance door in the midst of the night time, having fled a blackout within the metropolis.
With all cellphone, web and tv networks down, the terrifying nature of what’s unfolding in the remainder of the world creeps slowly in on the 2 households, who’re pressured to make an uneasy alliance regardless of their apparent prejudices.
“The thing that really resonated with me about the book was this idea that, in a moment of crisis, how easily we can lose our common humanity,” mentioned director Sam Esmail.
“The monster is the unknown, the not knowing. And that’s the connection that I had at the time of the pandemic, where we were really in the dark,” he added.
“It was the not knowing that was the part that scared us the most. But also, when it started to divide us.”
Unlike most catastrophe films, the obvious apocalypse unfolds primarily within the background, with the characters occupying the middle of the story.
Early opinions had been primarily constructive, with Deadline calling it a “chilling disaster movie that hits close to home.”
Stars together with Roberts, Mahershala Ali, Ethan Hawke and Kevin Bacon had been unable to stroll the purple carpet on Wednesday night, with the actors’ walkout having just lately handed the 100-day mark.
Talks between studios and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) over pay and different situations are ongoing.
AFI Fest continues till Sunday.
© 2023 AFP