Noah Baumbach (born
September 3, 1969) is an Academy
Award-nominated American
writer, director and
independent filmmaker.
Background and education
Baumbach
was born in Brooklyn
, New York
, the son of novelist/film critic Jonathan Baumbach
and Village Voice critic
Georgia Brown. He graduated from Brooklyn's Midwood High
School
in 1987 and received his B.A. from Vassar College
in 1991.
Career
Baumbach made his writing and directing debut at the age of 26 with
Kicking and Screaming
(
1995), a comedy about four young men
who graduate from college and refuse to move on with their lives.
The film starred
Josh
Hamilton,
Chris Eigeman, and
Carlos Jacott and premiered in 1995 at
the
New York Film Festival.
Baumbach was chosen as one of
Newsweek's
"Ten New Faces of 1996".
In 1997 he wrote and directed
Mr.
Jealousy, a film about a young writer so jealous about his
girlfriend that he sneaks into the group therapy sessions of her
ex-boyfriend to discover what kind of relationship they had. He
then co-wrote (under the name Jesse Carter) and directed (under the
name Ernie Fusco) the New York-set comedy of manners
Highball. He co-wrote
The Life Aquatic with Steve
Zissou (2004) with
Wes
Anderson.
His 2005 film
The Squid and
the Whale was a semi-autobiographical comedy-drama about
his childhood in Brooklyn and the effect of his parents' divorce on
the family in the mid-1980s. The film stars
Jeff Daniels and
Laura
Linney in the parent roles.
The Squid and the Whale
was a sleeper hit and a critical success, earning Baumbach two
awards at the 2005
Sundance Film
Festival as well as an
Academy
Award nomination for
Best
Original Screenplay. It also received six
Independent Spirit Award
nominations, three
Golden Globe
nominations and the
New
York Film Critics Circle,
Los Angeles Film Critics
Association and the
National Board of Review all voted
it the year’s best screenplay.
Baumbach's most recent film was the comedy-drama
Margot at the Wedding, starring
Jennifer Jason Leigh,
Nicole Kidman,
Jack Black and
John Turturro. In the film, Kidman plays a
woman named Margot who spends several days visiting her sister
Pauline (Leigh) on the eve of Pauline's wedding to Black's
character.
It was shot in April/May 2006 in Hampton Bays
and City Island, Bronx
. The film was released in the United States
by
Paramount Vantage on November
16, 2007.
Baumbach helped make a short film entitled "Clearing the Air" for a
recent episode of
Saturday Night
Live. It starred host
Paul Rudd
and SNL castmembers
Bill Hader and
Fred Armisen and was credited to "Fred,
Bill & Noah".
Baumbach co-wrote the screenplay for the
film version of
Roald Dahl's
Fantastic Mr Fox with
Wes Anderson, who directed it using
stop-motion technology.
Upcoming projects
Baumbach has "shown an affinity for writing about the East Coast
elite".
Ron Howard is slated to direct
Baumbach's script of
Claire Messud's
novel
The Emperor's
Children. Baumbach has also written an adaptation of
Curtis Sittenfeld's novel
Prep.
His newest film,
Greenberg, is currently in
post-production.
Personal life
Baumbach and his girlfriend of four years, actress
Jennifer Jason Leigh, were married on
September 3, 2005.
They live in New York City and Los
Angeles
. They are expecting their first child
beginning March of 2010.
Filmography
Director
Writer
References
-
http://whatevs.tumblr.com/post/60171165/im-not-sure-exactly-what-rationale-is-used-by-the
- Howard ready to father 'Children' - Entertainment
News, Film News, Media - Variety
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