Leave The World Behind Conspiracy Theories Addressed By Director

Warning: SPOILERS ahead for Leave the World Behind!

Leave the World Behind director Sam Esmail has addressed conspiracy theories surrounding Barrack and Michelle Obama’s involvement in producing the movie. The former US President’s production company, Higher Ground – co-founded with his wife – was involved in creating the new Netflix film by Esmail. Because the movie deals with a nationwide cyberattack that destabilizes the United States, some have proposed conspiracy theories that the Obama’s are laying out plans for the country’s future.

Speaking with Collider, Esmail dismissed these baseless theories, saying Leave the World Behind‘s thrilling story was already written before the Obamas hopped aboard. While the former President did give him notes on the script, it was done to further the adaptation, not reveal a secret government conspiracy. Check out what Esmail had to say below:

I think the silly thing about the whole thing is President Obama really came on a couple of months before we started shooting, so the script had basically been written and done. He obviously gave notes on the script, but the bones of the story and the sequences were already written. I would just say they’re pretty wrong in terms of his signaling. It had nothing to do with that.

Because President Obama is such a movie lover, he really focused his notes on trying to cinematically portray what was in the book in a really interesting way. The book was on his reading list, it’s one of his favorites, and he really wanted to do justice by the book and this theme about mistrust and this being a cautionary tale about what could happen if we don’t have that community or bond that holds us together. So he really gave notes with regards to character, empathy, and also the disaster elements. It was really across the board. And again, it was all in pursuit of making it into a good movie. That was his main focus.

More to come…