Exclusive 1:1 Interview: Noah Baumbach talks While We’re Young

By Eric Walkuski

Posted 11 years ago

I’ve long been an admirer of Noah Baumbach, director of THE SQUID AND THE WHALE, MARGOT AT THE WEDDING, GREENBERG and FRANCES HA. A savvy orchestrator of incisive comedy and adult drama, his films often focus on people who are having trouble growing up or accepting the fact they’ve grown up already; that interest of Baumbach’s has never been more apparent than in WHILE WE’RE YOUNG. The film, perhaps Baumbach’s straight-up funniest, looks at the unusual friendship between two couples; one a content but conventional pair in their 40s (Ben Stiller, Naomi Watts), the other a young, hip, adventurous duo (Adam Driver, Amanda Seyfried). The latter’s influence on the former is both funny and – sadly for those of us who aren’t spring chickens anymore – strangely relatable.

In the conversation below, Baumbach and I talk about how long WHILE WE’RE YOUNG has been in the works, what made this the right time to make it, writing for actors and what he’s working on next.

About the Author

Eric Walkuski

Film Critic

10,340 Articles Published

Favorite Movies: Jaws, Star Wars Trilogy, Aliens, Citizen Kane, The Third Man, Dawn read more of the Dead ('78), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre ('74), Fargo, Miller's Crossing, Reservoir Dogs, The Manchurian Candidate ('62), Taxi Driver, Back to the Future, Stand by Me, Shaun of the Dead, Boogie Nights, La Dolce Vita, 12 Angry Men, The Birds, Touch of Evil

Likes: Film, Beer (who the hell DOESN'T around here?!), writing, NY Mets, read more The Jets, Girls who love film AND beer (at the same time), Jazz, Deadwood, The Wire, The Office, The Twilight Zone, Cormac McCarthy, Graham Greene, Stephen King, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Scorsese, Spielberg, Halloween season, Marvel movies, Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, Ash vs Evil Dead, Game of Thrones, Edgar Allen Poe, Mother Nature

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