‘Leave the World Behind’ Star Myha’la Related to Her Character’s Response to Racism: “You Do Become Exhausted”

Myha’la Herrold—or just Myha’la, as she’s more frequently credited these days—had no problem relating to her character in Leave the World Behind, Netflix’s new psychological thriller that began streaming today.

“This girl is opinionated and strong-willed, and I love that about her,” the 27-year-old actor told Decider in a recent phone interview. “And that feels very much like me, more often than not.”

The girl in question is Ruth Scott, the on-screen daughter of Mahershala Ali in the Netflix adaptation of Rumaan Alam’s critically acclaimed 2020 novel. Ali’s character, G.H. Scott, shows up unannounced at his fancy Long Island home—much to the displeasure of his white renters, played by Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke—when a blackout hits New York City. Roberts’s character, Amanda, can’t conceal her racist suspicion of G.H.and Ruth, even as a cyberattack-driven apocalypse unfolds.

Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail, who wrote and directed the adaptation, made a few major changes to Alam’s novel. Most notably, he rewrote the character of Ruth to be G.H.’s college-age daughter, rather than his wife, as she is in the book. In an interview for the film production notes, Myha’la called the change a “clever move on Sam Esmail’s part. Her generation interacts with technology and media in a different way from everyone else in the film.”

Ruth is also far less forgiving than her father when it comes to Julia Roberts’s not-so-subtle micro-aggressions. Myha’la—who is also known for her lead role in the HBO series Industry, and her memorable performance in the A24 horror-comedy Bodies Bodies Bodies—spoke to Decider about working with Ali and Roberts, her own experience dealing with racial prejudice, and the latest on Industry Season 3.

Decider: What was your first impression of your character, Ruth?

Myha’la: I was like, ‘Wow, this girl is opinionated, strong-willed, and I love that about her.’ And that feels very much like me, more often than not, actually.

Was this your first time meeting Mahershala Ali? What was that first meeting with him like? 

Yeah, that was the first time that I met Mahershala. He’s an angel—he’s so welcoming and kind. He was very much like, “This is great, because, we can use the book as a guide, but we get to build what our relationship as father and daughter is.” I think on the first week, we met, I just asked him like, “Hey, do you want to sit down and have lunch, and spend some time together?” He was super willing and made himself available. 

I love that first scene where the two of you show up to the house, and you have this tense conversation with Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke in the kitchen. Tell me about filming that scene.

My first instinct was: There is some issue going on in the world that they understand, that these people, who are in their house, do not. She wants to feel safe and go home. But, I was also like, “These are strangers, and we don’t want to scare them away.”  I’ll come in like a little less hot. I’ll try to be a little more pleasant. We did the first couple of takes, and Sam was like, “Just really give it to him. I want you to have the most stank attitude as possible.” I was like, “Really? That’s not going to be overkill?” But he was like, “No It’s never too much. The direction is great. Let’s just push it as far as was can.  So I gave them I gave him as stank as I could. Which was actually super-duper fun. Playing a brat can be very fun. [Laughs.]

I love especially the tension between your character, and Julia Roberts’s character. Talk to me more about working with Julia, and how you viewed Julia’s character.

I felt really lucky. From day one, we all just had a common goal of putting our whole selves in this film. We connected on an artistic level in terms of our integrity and how much we wanted to give ourselves to this. So we had that bit of connection already. But like chemistry-wise—that’s the thing that gives us permission to have chemistry with each other. And I felt an immediate chemistry with Julia. She really embraced me. She understood that I came to give my all, and so she gave it right back to me. We never had conversations in terms of how our characters respond to each other; that’s one of the things that’s so beautiful when it happens organically. I think one of the things that grinds these two characters’ gears is that they’re a lot more alike than they are different. Ruth would vehemently deny that. But the way that they’re responding to each other with immediate suspicion and immediate defense feels so similar. I think it’s a normal thing for us to be off put by someone who is mirroring the most unattractive parts of us.

That feels most true in the scene where you guys are arguing in the shed—that’s such a powerful scene. Can you tell me a little bit about filming that scene? Was it emotional?

Absolutely. I had been preparing. I knew that day was coming. It’s the apex—the highest moment in [the movie] of panic, anxiety, stress, desperation. I was looking forward to that day, just making sure I was ready for it. As an actor, those moments when you finally— especially when it’s earned, and it’s absolutely earned in this film—the moments when you finally get to say what you mean, when you get to release those high emotions, are the most gratifying. They’re also the most exhausting, let me be clear! Those things are not easy to do. But I find them incredibly satisfying when you have been building an arc so that you can earn that moment. So that was really great day. I mean, as soon as we were done, both Julia and I were exhausted. We loved on each other and gave each other hugs and were like, “We just went through something together.” There’s love there, which is great.

This whole movie, Ruth is holding back so much anger about the way that she and her father are treated. But then that moment of release is so quiet. She confronts Amanda’s racism in this calm manner, just asking, “Why are you like this?” I found that very interesting. What was your take on that?

I guess I can only speak from personal experience, dealing with racism or prejudice or bigotry. You spend a lifetime dealing with it. There’s only so much energy you can continue to give it. You do become exhausted by the end. So if it’s a quiet moment, maybe that’s all she had left in her, especially given the circumstances.

How did you film the scene following that, when you’re facing down all those deer in the forest? Were any of those deer real?

No, I was screaming and crying at a poor crew member holding a gray, CGI plastic deer. Seriously shout out to all those crew members who just had to stand, watch and not laugh at me and Julia being as big and as crazy as we could possibly be. There were no actual deer. There were a couple of fake ones—there were maybe three scattered around, so we had like a direction to look at. But the rest was our lovely, lovely crew holding CGI props.

This movie was produced by Barack and Michelle’s production company Higher Ground. Did the cast hear from the Obamas while working on this movie at all? I assume they weren’t hanging around on set?

No, unfortunately, we were not graced with their presence on set. 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! [I put it] in like a box of keepsakes. Like, stuff that I have from like childhood and all that. It’s in a safe place. 

So, that scene in Bodies Bodies Bodies where you tell Rachel Sennott that your parents teach at a public university is one of my favorite line deliveries. What was it like, seeing the internet reaction to that scene, and the movie in general? 

That was really awesome and exciting, because all of us in that film loved the process. We had a great, fun time. So to see that we connected with the generation of people that we were playing characters in—like the same generation [of people who loved the movie]—was really awesome. And I, too, was pretty gagged at that line when I read it! I thought it was hilarious. So I’m glad that other people thought it was funny, too. 

your parents…are upper…middle…class. pic.twitter.com/Koy9nzupj4

— paul (@paulswhtn) September 23, 2022

The film was such a hit, has there any been any discussion of a sequel? Would you be down?

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I have no idea how they would do that. But I will totally be in.

Have you heard any talk about a sequel happening?

No, not not that I have heard. There’s a lot of things that I don’t hear. Believe it or not, actors are the last people to hear about anything!

I also love you in Industry. Congratulations on the Season 3 renewal. Can you give us an update of where you guys are at in production?

Production has wrapped!

Oh, wow. Can you tease anything that’s coming for Harper this season?

I wish I could tease, I really do. But I cannot, unfortunately.

Fair enough. my last question for you, because I know you’re a big music fan. Do you use Spotify? And if so, would you mind sharing your top artists or songs from your Spotify Wrapped this year?

Oh, you’re super lucky because usually I don’t do this, but I actually just did it the other day. My Spotify Wrapped top artist was Victoria Monet. In there was also Jacob Collier, Troye Sivan, and Matthew Sullivan. Those are the biggest ones.