Netflix film — featuring all-star cast — to shoot in Riverhead next month

Riverhead could get a peek at Hollywood’s A-list next month, when Netflix rolls into town to film the upcoming Thriller “Leave the World Behind,” starring Academy Award nominee Ethan Hawke and Oscar winners Julia Roberts and Mahershala Ali.

Netflix Productions has reached an agreement with the town to film here between April 25-29, according to a resolution on next week’s Town Board agenda.

The film, from acclaimed television writer and director Sam Esmail (“Mr. Robot”), is set on Long Island and based on the New York Times Bestseller of the same name by Rumaan Alam. The 2020 novel, which was a finalist for a National Book Award, is a story about two families, strangers to each other, who are forced together on a long weekend gone terribly wrong, according to deadline.com.

Riverhead Town Police will assist the production with road closures, traffic control and escort, according to a copy of the agreement. Filming will take place on Hulse Landing Road between Sound Avenue and Route 25A in Wading River; Sound Avenue between East Winds Drive and Hulse Landing Road in Wading River; Twomey Avenue between Sound and Youngs avenues in Calverton; and Horton Avenue between Reeves and Sound avenues in Riverhead, the agreement says.

It’s unclear exactly what will be filmed in that area and which actors might be on set, but the agreement says they will likely film on two of those days.

Riverhead Town and the North Fork has been home to a growing number of film and television productions in recent years, including a scene from the show Boardwalk Empire that filmed in roughly the same part of town. Netflix has also filmed in Riverhead for the shows Orange is the New Black and Jessica Jones.

Assuming the actors are on set, the production features some of the biggest star power to film on the North Fork, rivaling the HBO production of The Undoing, which filmed with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant in 2019 and The Devil’s Own, which shot in Greenport with Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt in 1996.

Hollywood legend Denzel Washington was originally set to appear in the film before he was replaced by Mr. Ali, who won Academy Awards for his work in a pair of Best Picture winners (“Moonlight,” “The Green Book.”) Ms. Roberts won her Oscar for “Erin Brockovich.”