Twenty-seven years after The Pelican Brief, Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington will reunite for Netflix’s Leave the World Behind, a forthcoming novel by Rumaan Alam that will be adapted and directed Sam Esmail, the creator of Mr. Robot and Homecoming.
Netflix engaged in a fierce bidding war to secure the rights to Leave the World Behind. The novel, which will be published by HarperCollins imprint Ecco this fall, follows a couple, Amanda and Clay, who travels to a remote Long Island village with their teenage son and daughter for a long weekend. Their quiet vacation is disrupted by the rental’s owners, Ruth and G. H., who show up claiming there’s been a blackout in New York City.
Forced to live together with no television, internet or cell phone service, the two families struggle to survive the near-apocalyptic scenario while weighing who to trust during this crisis. The film, which tackles themes of race, class, and parenthood, piqued the interest of Netflix, Apple and MGM, yet the streaming giant ultimately submitted the winning bid, which has been estimated to exceed $100 million.
After bringing Esmail onboard, he reached out to Roberts with whom he worked with on Homecoming. The Oscar-winning actress immediately thought of her former screen partner, Washington, who immediately accepted the proposal. Esmail is producing with partner Chad Hamilton, while Robert and Washington will also share producing duties.
In 1993's The Pelican Brief, based on the 1992 thriller by John Grisham, Roberts starred as a young law student, Darby Shaw, who joins forces with Washington Herald reporter Gray Grantham, played by Washington. Although the film received mixed reviews, with many praising the performances of its two leads, it was a box office success, raking in almost $200 million.
Rumaan Alam, also the author of Rich and Pretty and That Kind of Mother, has written for The New York Times, Elle, New York Magazine, The Los Angeles Review of Books and The Wall Street Journal, among others. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Source: Hollywood Reporter
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