In most disaster movies, the disaster is the star. Hurricane. Tsunami. Megalodon. Godzilla.

Not so in “Leave The World Behind” (now on Netflix), director Sam Esmail’s (“Mr. Robot”) tense reworking of Rumaan Alam’s 2020 bestseller by the same name.

Here the disaster is never well defined, though its effects – from Wi-Fi outages to deer infestations to beached cargo ships – stir up mounting levels of paranoia in a vacationing couple (Ethan Hawke and Julia Roberts), their teens (Charlie Evans and Farrah Mackenzie) and a mysterious duo (Mahershala Ali and Myha’la) who appear late at night in their rented home’s doorway.

“It’s a disaster movie that reorients you away from the disaster and towards the disintegration of these six characters,” says Esmail. “In some ways, it betrays the genre, but that made me more excited about doing it.”

Ethan Hawke and Julia Roberts star as New York City parents whose family weekend away turns apocalyptic in “Leave the World Behind.”
Esmail spoke to USA TODAY about reworking elements of the book to fit his film, how Roberts was his first choice for prickly Amanda, and getting script notes from former President Barack Obama, who helped back the film through his and Michelle Obama’s production company Higher Ground.

The biggest 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 causes George, or G.H. (Ali), and Ruth (Myha’la) to go back to their fancy home on Long Island, which Amanda (Roberts) and her family have rented.

Esmail says he has long been fascinated with cyberattacks (“they’re out there and they’re mystifying”) and decided to weave that into his movie as an added layer, which results in eerily garbled smartphone news alerts and other discomfiting plot points.

Myha’la as Ruth and Julia Roberts as Amanda sit opposite G.H., played by Mahershala Ali. Ruth, G.H.’s daughter, has a tempestuous relationship with Amanda in “Leave The World Behind,” an apocalyptic thriller.
But the biggest change was made to the character of Ruth, who in the book is G.H.’s wife. In the movie, Ruth is now his snarling daughter. “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 says.