A Long Island house shines in ‘Leave The World Behind’

Netflix’s latest bid for the upcoming Oscars season brings together stellar acting from both well-established and emerging stars, an eerie atmosphere, unsettling sound effects, and a story that’s immensely captivating — even when not much is happening.

And at the center of the action (or lack of, at times) is a perfectly appointed house that perfectly contrasts the chaos the characters are surrounded with.

The postapocalyptic thriller, directed by Mr. Robot’s Sam Esmail, tells the tale of a family that rents a luxurious home for a weekend away with their kids, with their vacation cut short by the appearance of the house’s owners, who are seeking refuge in the middle of the night following an apparent cyberattack.

Starring big screen darlings like Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, Mahershala Ali, and Myha’la, the movie is based on the National Book Award-nominated novel Leave The World Behind by Rumaan Alam.

And while we don’t want to spoil the movie for those who haven’t had a chance to watch yet, the plot sees the two families “reckon with a looming disaster that grows more terrifying by the minute, forcing everyone to come to terms with their places in a collapsing world.”

The ‘Leave The World Behind’ house in Old Westbury

While most postapocalyptic movies build elaborate sets to serve as a backdrop for the production, Sam Esmail’s movie was filmed on location at a real-life house in Long Island.

You’ll find the Leave The World Behind house in Old Westbury, a charming village in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island in New York.

Known as the Open Corner House, the Long Island residence is a striking modern farmhouse that was completely rebuilt in recent years, after the former French-style home on the property burned down.

So owners Roula and Fotis hired award-winning New York-based The Up Studio to design the 5,200-square-foot contemporary farmhouse as a home for their family.

From the layout — which was restructured to better fit the L-shaped lot and maximize nature views — to the addition of floor-to-ceiling windows, dark steel accents, and warm wood floors, THE UP STUDIO created a bright, light-filled, and modern home for the couple, one they didn’t necessarily expect the entire world to see.

Talking to CURBED Magazine, John Patrick Winberry, a partner at The Up Studio, admitted that he “didn’t know he was designing for a movie apocalypse when he started the project with his team, but the house has a cinematic quality all the same.”