The House from
Leave the World Behind
In 2019 we designed a modern farmhouse for a young Long Island family. Two years later, we got a call from an unknown number. What became of that call was bigger than we could have imagined (and we imagine things for a living!)
On the other end was a location scout from Netflix. She’d seen our Open Corner House online and wanted to know if it was available to rent. It wasn't... not really. (It had been, and still is, the primary residence of the family we designed it for.)
But, she had my attention.
A year prior, the author Rumaan Alam had released a timely thriller about a family vacationing on Long Island and a catastrophic event that unwittingly leads two families together to weather a mysterious disaster.
When our team eventually read that novel, it became immediately clear why Netflix had called. The house, where the characters bunker down for the vast majority of the book, was remarkably similar to one we had designed a few years prior!
The book caught the eye of director Sam Esmail (Mr. Robot, Homecoming) and was slated to be adapted into a feature film. The script then caught the eye of some incredible names, and the cast quickly filled up with names like Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, Ethan Hawke, & Kevin Bacon. Lastly, some new producers jumped on board to get their names behind their first feature-length film. Their names? Barack & Michelle Obama.
Over the last year and a half we've helped connect the team at Netflix with the homeowners to negotiate the rental details and we also worked closely with the art directors while they rebuilt a replica of the entire house on a soundstage!!
We spoke with journalists from New York Magazine and Dwell Magazine to chat about our design for the home and how it helped inform some of the cinematic shots in Leave the World Behind.
A collection of film stills from Netflix's Leave the World Behind which shows where the movie was filmed and some of the architecture and interiors that we designed for this home.
