What Was Barack Obama’s Role in Netflix’s “Leave the World Behind’?

If you didn’t watch Leave the World Behind on Netflix this weekend, you’re in the minority. The new apocalyptic movie from Sam Esmail is currently trending No. 1 on the streaming service, after its release on Friday. And there are two names in the Leave the World Behind credits that surprised some viewers: Barack and Michelle Obama.

Based on the 2020 novel of the same name by Rumaan Alam, Leave the World Behind stars Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke as a married couple on vacation, who find themselves trapped on Long Island with their rental home’s owner (Mahershala Ali), while society is on the brink of collapse. The film was released by Netflix, and produced by the Obama’s Higher Ground Productions, which first launched in 2018. The company has a multi-year deal with Netflix, and has produced over a dozen films for the streamer like the Oscar-winning American Factory, and, most recently, the Bayard Rustin biopic, Rustin.

But this is perhaps the most star-powered feature film from the Obamas’s production company. Naturally, folks are curious about the involvement of the former president and first lady.

What was the Obamas role in Leave the World Behind?

The Obamas are listed as producers on the Leave the World Behind movie, because Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company, Higher Ground Productions, came on board the film in 2022, two years after the movie had already been bought by Netflix. This was well after the movie had been cast, and after Esmail had adapted the screenplay from Rumaan Alam’s acclaimed 2020 novel. Esmail and Chad Hamilton are also producers through Esmail Corp, and Roberts produced through Red Om. But in the case of the Obamas, this is more of an “in name only” producer type of situations. Neither Barack nor Michelle were directly involved in the creation of the film.

In a statement for the official Leave the World Behind production notes, Tonia Davis, who is head of film and TV at Higher Ground, said, “What we love about Rumaan Alam’s book, and Sam Esmail’s adaptation, is that it leaves nothing behind. This is a rare story that deals with race, class, what it means to raise kids in today’s world, and how external events start to seep into our consciousness and create fears where maybe there shouldn’t be any. This is a story that doesn’t necessarily provide answers, but asks fundamental questions about how we live, how we think, and who we trust.”

In an interview for those same production notes, Esmail explained that Barack Obama was a fan of Aman’s 2020 novel, and came on board in 2022 to help get the film made. “I remember back when I was working on the second season of Mr. Robot, I almost fell out of my chair because I found out President Obama was a fan of the show,” Esmail said. “So this has been a great full-circle moment. Knowing he’s a fan of the book, a fan of my work, and a friend of Julia’s — it seemed like kismet that he and Michelle, and the incredible team at Higher Ground, would come on as producers. Their involvement was invaluable in getting this movie made.”

However, the Obamas were not involved in developing the script, nor were they on set for the production of the movie. In a previous Leave the World Behind interview with Decider, Myha’la, who plays Mahershala Ali’s on-screen daughter in the movie, said that the Obamas did not visit set during production.

“Unfortunately, we were not graced with their presence on set,” Myha’la said when asked about the Obama’s involvement in the film. “But I did get a card with my wrap gift that was signed by them, and the rest of the production team. That was pretty exciting!”