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.