Sam Esmail has shared why Friends was the perfect escape mechanism in his new Netflix movie, Leave The World Behind.
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The disaster movie, which stars Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke and Mahershala Ali, features a character called Rose, who is clearly attached to the beloved 1990s sitcom.
When a widespread internet outage occurs and Rose can’t watch the series finale, which was originally watched by 52.million American viewers, she is left without her, and many others’ comfort show.
In a recent interview with Collider, Esmail shared how he was set on Friends being Rose’s obsession, and an occurring theme throughout the movie.
“There was a big conversation that we had for a long time, and you could run through all the sitcoms that are these classics that could potentially work but none of them really had that theme song that was so iconic,” he explained.
Mahershala Ali as G.H. and Julia Roberts as Amanda in ‘Leave The World Behind’. CREDIT: JoJo Whilden/NETFLIX
He continued: “And, I have to stress this, the lyrics of that song were so perfect for how the film ends. I honestly don’t know what I would have done.”
‘I’ll Be There For You’ by The Remembrandts became an iconic theme tune as the series has gained and retained success, with viewership increasing in months following the death of main cast member, Matthew Perry.
Esmail revealed about the decision: There was a point where, after we ran through other options, I think I looked at the team and I said, ‘I don’t think we can afford to lose Friends.’”
He added: “There’s no show that fits that moment more perfectly than that show, so we had to use all our powers to make sure that we got the rights, and we luckily did.”
In other news, Elon Musk has received criticism for addressing the famous Tesla scene in the movie.
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