One of the pinnacle sequences delivered in Netflix's Leave the World Behind was when Julia Roberts heard a distressing sound on Long Island. Loud enough to have led her outside their summer house. So, what was the noise in Leave the World Behind?
Leave the World Behind Director Reveals Inspiration Behind the 'Noise'
The world is coming to an end in the form of a cyberattack threatening to send 'death to America.' According to Archie Sandford (played by Charlie Evans), the noise sounded like a "plane breaking the sound barrier" or a "sonic boom."
When G.H. Scott (Mahershala Ali) pointed out that planes aren't usually tasked to 'break' sound barriers, this brought out the question, what was the noise in the Netflix film from?
Sam Esmail Breaks Down How They Created the 'Noise'
Speaking with Netflix Tudum, film director Sam Esmail explained how they found the inspiration for the noise they used in Leave the World Behind:
"Before we shot the film, we were trying to dial in this sound. We took elements of Havana Syndrome, which is a mysterious sound that they still have not gotten to the bottom of that has been causing people to have ailments."
According to Esmail, the scene where Julia Roberts had to cover her ears was a raw scene. She was the first to have heard of it and wasn't even aware that it was a part of their filming.
It is worth mentioning that the Havana Syndrome that Esmail took inspiration from is just one of the many inspirations for the noise in Leave the World Behind, especially since the unexplained illness remains a mystery in the present time.
While this remains unanswered, here are a couple of fan theories exploring the origins of the strange noise.
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The 'Noise' in Leave the World Behind Sparks Fan Theories
The noise in Leave the World Behind not only triggers headaches, it also got Archie sick when he failed to cover his ears on time.
In the original book, where the Netflix film was based, the noise was described with more explicit details. The noise presumably came from Government-owned planes that civilians didn't even know existed.
Most fan theories that have circulated are about the noise 'intentionally' driving people sick. Interpreted to have been a part of the plane sound, there had also been big shattering noises of planes flying overhead.
This is just one of the more petrifying parts of the storytelling behind Sam Esmail's Leave the World Behind, which is available to stream on Netflix.
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