Julia Roberts wanted to change one scene in Leave The World Behind

Roberts said she repeatedly asked director Sam Esmail for the change, but he refused

Julia Roberts has said she repeatedly asked for a different song to be used during her dance scene in Leave The World Behind.

The Netflix end-of-the-world thriller, directed by Mr Robot creator Sam Esmail, stars Roberts alongside Ethan Hawke, Mahershala Ali and Myha'la Herrold.

In one key scene, Roberts and Ali’s characters Amanda and George ‘GH’ Washington dance to the 1997 R&B hit “Too Close” by Next.

Speaking to MTV, Roberts said: “Sam and I are very good friends, and we agree on almost everything, except that song, and I asked him to change it so many times.

“No offense to the talented blokes, but I asked him so many times because I was so embarrassed at the beginning of that song and Mahershala Ali is standing there, all eight-and-a-half feet tall of him.”

She added that she’s come to understand why Esmail wanted to include that particular piece of music.

“Even just this morning, Sam explained yet again why he picked that song, and he’s completely right because being uncomfortable is the right thing, and just that song being kind of known but not really popularized, and he just has an answer for everything. But it was very funny to have to portray Amanda in that scenario of my boogie.”

Mahershala Ali, Myha’la Herrold, Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke in ‘Leave the World Behind’ (Netflix)

In another interview, reported by The Direct, Esmail explained his song choice by saying: “That moment in the film needed to feel very grounded and very silly, and I felt that the song kind of allowed those two characters to cut loose in a way that maybe a more familiar or popular song wouldn’t have. And come on, their dance moves just really complimented the lyrics.”

In her four-star review of the film for The Independent, Clarisse Loughrey praised Roberts for embracing her dark side in the paranoid, cynical thriller: “America’s sweetheart has sprinted over to the dark side, and it’s a thrill to see what she does with it.”

Culture writer Lois Chilton, however, felt that while the “apocalyptic drama sets its sights on provocation with a bleak, spiky take on modern America... it needs more skill than this”.

While the film has quickly risen to the No 1 spot on Netflix, it currently has an audience score of just 42 per cent on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk is being lampooned over his complaint about a Tesla “inaccuracy” featured in the film.

Leave The World Behind is available to stream on Netflix now.