Hollywood icon Julia Roberts told RTÉ Entertainment that showing "kindnesses" on set is "intentional" after being praised by her Leave the World Behind co-star Mahershala Ali.
The A-lister reunites with her Homecoming and Gaslit director Sam Esmail for the gripping apocalyptic thriller which lands on Netflix this week. In the film, adapted from Rumaan Alam's 2020 novel of the same name, Roberts plays Amanda Sandford, a New York-based advertising executive who decamps to a luxurious Long Island holiday home for the weekend along with her husband Clay (Ethan Hawke) and children Archie (Charlie Evans) and Rose (Farrah Mackenzie).
Movie Review: Leave the World Behind
It's not long before their idyllic weekend away is upended by the arrival of two strangers, G.H (Mahershala Ali) and his daughter Ruth (Myha'la), who are bearing news of a mysterious cyberattack and are seeking refuge in the house they claim is theirs.
Moonlight and Green Book Oscar-winner Ali was full of praise for his co-star Roberts, saying she "leads with kindness" on set.
When asked if this is something she did consciously throughout her career, Roberts told RTÉ Entertainment: "That's a very nice way for him to put it. I think it's intentional. It’s intentional.
"Because I want people to be kind to me at work. It’s not neurosurgery, but it’s not easy and the hours are long and you’re away from your family and you’re away from the things that comfort you, and so I think that all those kindnesses, knowing people’s names and being connected in that way, it goes a long way."
Roberts relished the opportunity to reunite with Esmail, known for creating, writing and directing the award-winning TV series Mr Robot.
She joked that their familiarity with one another meant he sometimes neglected to give her direction while they were shooting Leave the World Behind.
Roberts said: "Sam and I were doing interviews together this morning and I was remembering, there were times when he would be talking to Myha'la or Ethan [Hawke] and then say 'Ok let’s go again' and walk off and I’d be like 'he’s not really paying attention.. like dad you’re not paying attention to me!'
"But I think we do have a kind of shorthand at this point. We just have this odd mental connection and he’s so comprehensive the way he presents things, and I think that I do take in what he says. I take it very seriously and it prints on me and I’m his acting soldier."
American actress Myha'la, best known for her role as Harper Stern in the television drama Industry, told RTÉ Entertainment it was "a bit of an adjustment" coming onto a huge production like this.
She said: "I haven’t ever worked on anything on this scale, with this cast, so I was like 'I’m ready to go!’ and then I realised, we have a little more time, we can sink in and be emphatic about some things, because I was always like ‘we have to go now!' So that was a nice change of pace."
Roberts added: "And Sam created a really nice rehearsal time for us to be in the space of the house and to create the way we wanted to do it, before we even got in there with the crew and the cameras and everything."
When asked if there was any aspect of the film's apocalyptic disaster elements that particularly freaked them out, which included beached oil tankers, airplanes falling from the sky and an inexplicably loud and piercing sound, Roberts offered without hesitation: "I don't like that noise."
"Oh yeah," Myha’la interjected.
"I’ll just say that," Roberts continued. "I don’t like to pretend about it, I don’t like to talk to Sam [Esmail] about it, I don’t like anything about it. I don’t say the word Havana anymore and I don’t say Syndrome, that’s how afraid I am," she deadpanned.
As well as leading Leave the World Behind, the Academy Award winning actress also served as a producer on the project with former US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama executive producing for their company Higher Ground.
Roberts said it was "such an honour" to work with the former first couple.
"It’s such an honour, it’s one of those things that every time I say it I feel like ‘wait is this true or did I dream this and I am just saying it over and over again?'
"Higher Ground, they’re really making incredible things, so to be in the stable of their content library is pretty great."
Leave the World Behind lands on Netflix on 8 December.
