Noah Baumbach, who co-wrote The Life Aquatic and Fantastic Mr. Fox, is back at work on his next film according to JoBlo.com:
Prodigious director Noah Baumbach has quietly started shooting an untitled film in Los Angeles
starring Ben Stiller as Roger Greenberg, a man at a crossroads who ends up housesitting at his brother’s home in Los Angeles. It’s there that he strikes up an unlikely friendship with his brother’s assistant Florence (played by reta Gerwig), an aspiring singer. Rhys Ifans, Mark Duplass, Brie Larson, and Juno Temple also star.Baumbach wrote the script based on a story he conceived with Jennifer Jason Leigh, who co-stars and is co-producing with Baumbach and Scott Rudin. After Baumbach’s first film THE SQUID AND THE WHALE was nominated for an Oscar, the man was widely regarded as one of Hollywood’s hottest young directors. But after his next film MARGOT AT THE WEDDING suffered from a lukewarm reception, the boy wonder was left reeling. Early buzz on this next film is decent, so lets hope Mr. Baumbach gets back on track and lives up to the hype, LeBron James-style.
Always good to hear Baumbach is back to work, but JoBlo should really get their facts straight — Baumbach has been directing for years – ‘Squid and the Whale’ was not his 1st film (which was 1995’s ‘Kicking and Screaming’), but his 4th. And he’s hardly a boy wonder. Anyhow, I’m excited for this film and especially for the Fantastic Mr. Fox. Thanks for the news Rushmore Academy!
I’m a little worried about Baumbach’s embracing of the mumblecore crowd, going so far as to produced Joe Swanbergs’ newest film. The mumblecore actors he has in this movie (Greta Gerwig, Mark Duplass) are actually the most appealing of the performers in those movies, but I just hope he doesn’t absorb any of their “style” for his movies. What’s made Baumbach’s past two movies so different than anything else out there now is their 70ish European use of 35mm film. Margot looks like it could be cut into Murmur of the Heart without much effort, and I think if Baumbach switches to digital, his films would lose something. But I probably shouldn’t criticize the movie before I really know anything concrete about it. 😉