The Big Picture

Ethan Hawke and Myha’la discuss their experience making Leave the World Behind, Sam Esmail’s film adaptation of the Rumaan Alam novel. During an interview with Collider’s Perri Nemiroff, Myha’la revisited what it was like yelling at acting legend Julia Roberts in one especially tense scene. Hawke also explained why he and Myha’la would make an ideal disaster movie survival team.

It’s not easy being the up-and-coming star challenged to hold your own opposite industry legends like Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, and Mahershala Ali, but Myha’la soars opposite the icons. She’s not new to the business by any means. She’s been getting widespread praise for her work on HBO’s Industry since it began in 2020 and also just made huge impressions in Bodies Bodies Bodies and Dumb Money, but the role of Ruth in Leave the World Behind not only demands that Myha’la spar with a trio of heavy hitters, but that her character exudes authority while doing so.

She plays Ruth in the Sam Esmail-directed adaptation of the Rumaan Alam book. Her father, G.H. (Ali), rents their Long Island home out to Clay and Amanda’s (Hawke and Roberts) family, but they find themselves in a position where they’ve got no choice but to return home early when there’s a widespread blackout in the city. While G.H. treads lightly with Clay and Amanda in an effort to avoid rocking the boat and Clay is a natural affable people-pleaser, Ruth and Amanda have no problem standing their ground in an effort to protect their loved ones and ensure they get what’s theirs. That leads to a series of deliciously tense scenes between Myha’la and Roberts that culminates with one of the strongest performance beats of the entire movie, Ruth and Amanda’s argument in the shed.

With Leave the World Behind now available to stream on Netflix, I got the chance to chat with Myha’la who discussed her experience going toe-to-toe with Julia Roberts. On top of that, Hawke weighed in on Clay’s evolution in the film, and both explained why they’d make an optimal disaster scenario survival duo.

Hear about all of that straight from Myha’la and Hawke in the video at the top of this article, or you can read the conversation in transcript form below.

Leave the World Behind A family’s getaway to a luxurious rental home takes an ominous turn when a cyberattack knocks out their devices, and two strangers appear at their door. Release Date November 22, 2023 Director Sam Esmail

PERRI NEMIROFF: Myha’la, I’m coming your way first with a big two-parter. I was reading a quote in our press notes about how you looked at this project like an acting masterclass, both in terms of watching what they were doing with their performances and also how they carried themselves on set, so can you give me an example of each, a takeaway you saw from somebody else’s performance, but then also something someone else did that impressed you in terms of how they set the tone on set?

MYHA’LA: Oh my gosh. Well, I’m sitting here with Ethan. I think what I found to be really beautiful and grounding as a human person is Ethan found ways to entertain himself between setups on the day. You brought your guitar some days and played, which I thought was so wonderful because we do end up spending quite a lot of time alone or in our trailers or whatever. I was like, “I’m just gonna binge-watch TV,” but this is better, making music.

ETHAN HAWKE: I always feel like half of being an actor is mood management.

MYHA’LA: Yes!

HAWKE: Just trying to maintain. Because all of us can behave any way, many different ways every one of us can be, it just depends on what mood you’re in.

MYHA’LA: Exactly.

HAWKE: And you kind of have to find a mood, or be able to access the mood that’s right for the movie.

I feel like mood management is important to any career path out there.

HAWKE: True!

Myha’la, a question about a very specific scene. It’s the shed scene. I’m watching that scene, it’s exceptional, but I’m busy sitting there thinking, what is it like being yelled at by Julia Roberts, but then also, what is it like yelling back? When you say, “Stop yelling at me,” it cuts through and I just can’t imagine doing that to an icon.

MYHA’LA: Thank you. Well, the beautiful thing about working with Julia and Ethan and Mahershala is that as soon as the cameras are up we are there with each other, you know what I mean? I never felt juniorized or patronized or anything. They were like, “Yes, we are peers and we’re working together.” As soon as they call action, we’re in the world together, so you do what you must do.

But to answer your question, if there’s any other actors out there who are watching this, yelling at Julia Roberts is like the best feeling ever. [Laughs] Not Julia Roberts, but sparring, you know? Sparring like that, I live for those moments, especially when they’re earned. So like our characters, the relationship throughout the movie that brought us to that point, we were waiting for that moment to get all of those feelings out together. I mean, literally, we wrapped that day and we were hugging on each other and saying how fun and special it was that we got to go there together.

You made the most of that moment, big time. I love that scene.

Ethan, in our notes you described Clay as somebody who means well and does nothing, which is very accurate and was also making me wonder, what do you think Clay thinks his greatest strength is at the very beginning of the film, and then does it change at the end of the film? Does he find a new source of strength within himself?

HAWKE: Great question. I think he would say at the beginning that he prides himself on being affable. It’s something he’s really proud of, that he can get along with anybody and that he tries to make the best of every situation. By the end of the film, he’s slowly realizing that he’s a Pollyanna and that if you don’t have a spine, if you don’t offend anyone, you perhaps don’t stand for anything. That’s a very tough realization that, perhaps by the end of the film, he’s at least slightly aware of. I don’t know if he grew a spine, but he’s aware that he doesn’t have one, which is a start.

Ethan Hawke’s Ingenious Disaster Movie Survival Plan
Image via Netflix

Before they kick me out of here, one silly disaster movie question for you both. Let’s say, real world, there is a blackout like in this movie. You can team up with one Leave the World Behind co-star. Who do you pick that you think will give you the best chance of surviving the situation?

MYHA’LA: Oh my gosh. Not to offend anyone else, but probably you.

HAWKE: Oh, well thank you.

MYHA’LA: Probably you because I feel like you’d be resourceful and think about stuff.

HAWKE: Well, we would have the best time.

HERROLD: We would have a good time! [Laughs]

HAWKE: There has to be a point to survival. I always think this. The point is not just to live, the point is to have a good time and to actually live for something, right? I would certainly make sure that we had a good time. I don’t know how long we’d live, but the time we had, we would do well.

HERROLD: [Laughs] We would have fun.

HAWKE: And I think you and I would have fun together.

Leave the World Behind is available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.

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