Barack Obama, advisor on Julia Roberts’ new film for Netflix
Although it is clear that Julia Roberts He is one of the biggest movie stars in the world, his career can still surprise. Without going any further, her new film has had a very, very high profile advisor: none other than Barack Obama.
Is about Leave the World Behind, a film directed by Sam Esmail (the creator of Mr. Robot) and in which Roberts stars alongside Ethan Hawke. In an interview with Vanity Fair, the filmmaker spoke about how the former president of the United States (who participates as a producer through his company Higher Ground) has helped shape this film with the seal Netflix about an enigmatic global collapse.
“It’s clear that in the early drafts of the script, I had taken things much further than they appear in the film,” explains Esmail. “President Obama, with his experience, It helped me put my feet on the ground and reflect things as they could happen in reality.
“I write something that I believe is fiction, and I try to make it as realistic as possible, but I exaggerate and dramatize,” he continues. “Listening to how a former president tells you that you have missed some details… I thought I had missed a lot! Hearing him say that completely scared me.”
What was Barack Obama’s contribution?
Based on the novel by Rumaan Alam, included by Obama among his favorite books of 2021, Leaving the World Behind promises to be an uncompromising look at the fall of Western civilization through the characters of Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke. Even so, both the former president and his wife Michelle Obama They convinced Sam Esmail not to indulge in pessimism.
“[Obama] “I had taken a lot of notes about the characters and the empathy we would show towards them,” he explains. “I have to say that He is a great movie buff, and he didn’t just write down things related to his experience: he gave advice like a fan of the book, and wants to see a great movie.
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