Noah Baumbach

Birthday: 3 September 1969, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Height: 175 cm

Born in Brooklyn in 1969 Noah Baumbach is the son of two film critics, Georgia Brown and Jonathan Baumbach (also a writer). His studies at Vassar College were the subject of his first film (made as he was 26 years old), Kicking and Screaming (1995). His second major picture, made ten years later, The Squid and the Whale (2005) was no less autobiographical but went back further in his personal history, back to the time when his parents separated. Recounting this past trauma and its aftermath earned Noah a selection at the Sundance Film Festival, three Golden Globe nominations and a best screenplay Oscar nomination. From then on his career was launched and his output became more regular with Margot at the Wedding (2007) starring Nicole Kidman and his wife Jennifer Jason Leigh, Greenberg (2010), filmed in Los Angeles, with Ben Stiller and Greta Gerwig. Back in New york, where he lives, he was the director (and co-author with his main actress, Greta Gerwig) of the bittersweet art house success Frances Ha (2012). Besides directing films, he also co-writes some with Wes Anderson, a good friend of his, and is the author of humor columns in the New Yorker. Show less «

[re seeking attention from strangers ] I know that. When I was a kid, I would fantasize about my own...Show more »

[re seeking attention from strangers ] I know that. When I was a kid, I would fantasize about my own funeral. Show less «

[re Woody Allen] I think my parents had "Getting Even", which was one of his collections, and when I...Show more »

[re Woody Allen] I think my parents had "Getting Even", which was one of his collections, and when I read it I couldn't believe it. I thought they were the funniest things that I had ever read, but also felt--this is the thing they say about great poetry or something--it's like your own thoughts brought back to you with added majesty. It was like my own funny ideas brought back, and he just seemed so smart and funny, and I just felt so connected to it from that point forward. Show less «

Somebody could easily go through and link everything to different points in not just my family, but ...Show more »

Somebody could easily go through and link everything to different points in not just my family, but people I know - but I don't even really care. For me, the movie is a protection - a completely reinvented film. [on 'The Squid and The Whale.'] Show less «

"I still carry the residue of the pressure I felt as a child to read and appreciate the right books....Show more »

"I still carry the residue of the pressure I felt as a child to read and appreciate the right books. Growing up, I never allowed myself to read beach reading. I was always plowing through Ford Madox Ford's "Good Solider" or something I wasn't equipped to understand". Show less «

I don't outline. And when I've done jobs either in television or for a studio, and outlines have bee...Show more »

I don't outline. And when I've done jobs either in television or for a studio, and outlines have been part of the deal, it seems completely artificial to me and, I think, made it harder for me to write the script afterward. Show less «

[re first time he saw Jules et Jim (1962)] For me, it was the beginning of getting over a cultural b...Show more »

[re first time he saw Jules et Jim (1962)] For me, it was the beginning of getting over a cultural barrier. I watched it for a college French class with headphones on in the language library, and had to return the next day to finish it, which was not the best first viewing experience, but I remember having the same visceral reaction as I'd had when I watched movies like 'Road Warrior' [Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)_] or Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) when I was a kid." Show less «

At the Frances [ Frances Ha (2012) ] age, I was kind of agonized. [At 27, achieving success] I was r...Show more »

At the Frances [ Frances Ha (2012) ] age, I was kind of agonized. [At 27, achieving success] I was ridiculously young. I felt so old. My persona was, 'Everything's O.K., I'm right on track. I was so afraid to admit that I was disappointed or upset. Show less «

I always viewed life as material for a movie.

[on While We're Young] I saw this film in a very traditional way, about adults coming apart to come ...Show more »

[on While We're Young] I saw this film in a very traditional way, about adults coming apart to come together. Show less «

[re techniques he borrowed from Jules et Jim (1962)] I love the camera there. We did that in Frances...Show more »

[re techniques he borrowed from Jules et Jim (1962)] I love the camera there. We did that in Frances Ha (2012) when she is reading to her best friend Sophie: the camera moves over and she's knitting. There's something about the logic of the camera move; the voiceover says something, then you move and reveal the other side. It's almost funny and it has such a point of view-you know that the director knows exactly what he's doing. That lightness of spirit was something I thought about for "Frances"... The music helps here. It's sad, sweet and romantic, while they're just hanging out in the country-but it's also the way Truffaut sets up the camera. We were trying to do this with "Frances", make big moments out of little ones. It feels so important. [Francois} Truffaut evokes a similar exhilarating feeling earlier, but now there's something deeper-these three are now the core relationship. It's both joyful and so complicated, and we sense that this friendship is not going to remain the same. He's bringing them together and apart at the same time. Show less «

Movie time is like college time. If you had a test on Thursday, Friday felt so far away.

Really, as long as they're supportive of the movie and the way I want to make it, the difference bet...Show more »

Really, as long as they're supportive of the movie and the way I want to make it, the difference between it being a studio or not isn't that great. It's more secure with a studio, but you can also get caught up in more red tape. Suddenly they have to clear everything in the shot; people get anxious. Show less «

[re friend Wes Anderson ] I saw that he really was doing what was interesting to him, and he was tru...Show more »

[re friend Wes Anderson ] I saw that he really was doing what was interesting to him, and he was trusting that that would be interesting to other people. I saw Rushmore (1998) and I thought, He's comfortable making his own genre. Show less «

[more re François Truffaut and his Jules et Jim (1962)] Day for night in black and white is so cool...Show more »

[more re François Truffaut and his Jules et Jim (1962)] Day for night in black and white is so cool. It was practical because it's such a long shot and would have been difficult to light. Whatever the reason, there's something so beautiful about this walk and talk; how they [Catherine and Jules] come toward us from that distance, and we dolly with them. Truffaut doesn't need to cut in. He just sets it up so they'll come closer. I love shots like that. If I could, I'd shoot everything that way. And the day for night makes it beautiful in a way you can't define. It's familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. Show less «

So many movies are created by concept, even on the independent level. People are looking for somethi...Show more »

So many movies are created by concept, even on the independent level. People are looking for something they can ratify, a novelty or an exciting concept. I taught a class on the French New Wave and I came upon this quote by Godard-something to the effect that, 'When I became a filmmaker, I realized I couldn't make the movies I wanted to make before I was a filmmaker.' That whole thing about him saying he thought he was making Scarface when he was making Breathless, but he ended up making Alice in Wonderland-that was Godard realizing who he was as a filmmaker. That's something that didn't come to me until this movie (The Squid and the Whale). I made my first movie when I was 24. I was the kid who loved Star Wars and Indiana Jones. I was still connected to that. I had to shake it out of my head. I had to outgrow it. Show less «

Truffaut loved [Alfred] Hitchcock. You feel there's something up even if you don't know what....Ther...Show more »

Truffaut loved [Alfred] Hitchcock. You feel there's something up even if you don't know what....There's discovery in this movie [ Jules et Jim (1962)]. You're discovering this woman but there's discovery in the filmmaking, too. You get involved in the story even though Truffaut uses narration and techniques that might seem distancing. He knows exactly what he wants to show you, and he only uses the voiceover when it's either going to get us further inside the characters or dispense with exposition. It gives the movie a classical structure and puts it all in the past tense. This is a time that is now over. It's both a celebration and an elegy. Show less «

I try not to analyze the characters when I'm writing, but I'm very analytical in my life.

I grew up in the heat of 70s postmodern fiction and post-Godard films, and there was this idea that ...Show more »

I grew up in the heat of 70s postmodern fiction and post-Godard films, and there was this idea that what mattered was the theory or meta in art. My film is emotional rather than meta, and that's my rebellion. Show less «

At some point it's going to add up to some sort of strange police blotter sketch if all these things...Show more »

At some point it's going to add up to some sort of strange police blotter sketch if all these things in my films are true. My hope is that I will make enough movies that they can't all conceivably be autobiographical. Show less «

[on first meeting Brian De Palma at Paul Schrader's birthday party] Well I was just excited that he ...Show more »

[on first meeting Brian De Palma at Paul Schrader's birthday party] Well I was just excited that he was there and I think I eventually drank enough to go over and introduce myself. I could have just as easily let it go by thinking, 'Oh, he doesn't want to be bothered.' But he was actually so inviting and friendly and we exchanged numbers at the end of the night. I figured that was probably it but then the next day there was a message on my machine: "Do you want to go have coffee?" And I had a script at the time that I was about to make and I gave him the script and then I went over to his apartment and we talked about it and he had some ideas. I think he was about to go make Snake Eyes (1998) and we became friends. [2016] Show less «

Noah Baumbach

Noah Baumbach's FILMOGRAPHY

Noah Baumbach'S roles

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