Mahershala Ali, Julia Roberts to star in Netflix film, 'Leave The World Behind'

Having accumulated quite the fan following, Mahershala Ali’s burgeoning career seems to be at a steady pace with his upcoming films Blade and Swan Song set in steady production. To add to his growing list of successes, he has now been roped in to star alongside Julia Roberts in Sam Esmail’s Netflix film Leave The World Behind. 

Esmail, known for Mr. Robot, has adapted the film from Rumaan Alam’s eponymous 2020 novel which was named the Best Book of the Year by several publications and was listed by the former President, Barack Obama as one of his summer favourites. 

The film is produced by Roberts as well as Esmail and Chad Hamilton. They will also be joined by Lisa Gillan, Marisa Yeres Gill and Alam himself. 

The provocative novel focuses on the story of two families who, despite being alien to one another, are compelled to go on a weekend trip that goes terribly awry. 

The novel has a suspenseful tone that touches on the glaring themes of race, class, family, parenthood and more. It questions, subverts and reshapes the most intimate bonds, challenging them in the moments of crises and showing the creation of new relationships in the most unlikely circumstances. 

Initially, Denzel Washington was set to play the role which was eventually bagged by Ali.

This two-time Oscar winner has already garnered critical acclaim for his outstanding performance in Moonlight and Green Book. recently, Ali has received an Emmy nomination for his supporting role in Ramy. Ali is going places and we cannot wait to see what he has in store for us in this film.