“Noah [Baumbach] is one of those sort of savants. He knows exactly what he wants,” George Clooney told Tudum about the filmmaker. In Baumbach’s latest, Jay Kelly, the two-time Oscar Award–winner plays the titular role, a marquee actor who is considered “the last of the old movie stars.” After decades of glitzy Hollywood success but little real-world experience, he treks from Los Angeles to a film festival in Italy with his loyal manager, Ron (Adam Sandler). On the journey there, he reflects on his life, his relationships, and the legacy he wants to leave behind.
Jay Kelly, which Baumbach co-wrote with Emily Mortimer (Match Point), marks the Brooklyn-born filmmaker’s 15th time sitting in the director’s chair. Since the 1995 premiere of his debut, Kicking and Screaming, Baumbach has been nominated for four Academy Awards and two Golden Globes, and won a Critics Choice Award for Best Original Screenplay for Barbie, which he co-wrote with his frequent collaborator and wife, actor and director Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird). The couple also co-wrote Frances Ha (more on that below) and Mistress America, both of which star Gerwig, who also leads or appears in several of her husband’s other films — including Jay Kelly.
After checking out his latest, take a closer look at Baumbach’s extensive body of work on Netflix now.
This dramatic comedy earned Baumbach his first Oscar nomination, for Best Original Screenplay. The 2005 movie follows two brothers, 16-year-old Walt (Jesse Eisenberg) and 12-year-old Frank (Owen Kline), as they navigate their parents’ bitter separation in 1980s New York City. Their dad, Bernard (Jeff Daniels), is an aspiring novelist who can’t handle the fact that their mom, Joan (Laura Linney), is becoming more successful than him, and the family dynamic becomes even more fraught when the boys take sides. The film, produced by Wes Anderson (The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar), won awards at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival for Best Dramatic Direction and Screenwriting, and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize.
Baumbach and Gerwig co-wrote this film about a struggling dancer, which stars Gerwig as the titular character, and earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress. When Frances’s best friend and roommate (Mickey Sumner) tells Frances she’s moving out of their Brooklyn apartment and relocating to Manhattan to live with someone else, Frances is forced to reevaluate not just her living situation but also her life choices and career aspirations. Adam Driver (House of Gucci) and Michael Zegen (Too Much) co-star.
Sandler’s first collaboration with Baumbach — a dramatic comedy about a group of adult siblings living in the shadow of their successful father’s expectations — also stars Ben Stiller (Meet the Parents), Dustin Hoffman (The Graduate), Emma Thompson (Down Cemetery Road), Elizabeth Marvel (Swallow), and Grace Van Patten (Lie to Me). Former college professor Harold Meyerowitz (Hoffman) is married to his fourth wife, Maureen (Thompson), and struggling with retirement when his eldest son, Danny (Sandler), moves back home. Cue the not-so-subtle sibling rivalry, hurt feelings, and one especially uncomfortable family movie night.
The film was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival and also stars Driver (Girls), Candice Bergen (Murphy Brown), and Sigourney Weaver (Working Girl) as herself. Gerwig (Little Women) also pops in for a voice cameo.
An initially amicable divorce turns ugly in this drama starring Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation) and Driver (Megalopolis). When Nicole (Johansson) gets a role in a TV series pilot in Los Angeles, she leaves her theater director husband Charlie’s (Driver) company in New York City. Charlie thinks their separation is temporary, so he doesn’t bat an eye when she takes their son, Henry (Azhy Robertson), with her. The situation backslides from there into a screaming, crying, wall-punching tearjerker of a custody battle. Marriage Story earned six Oscar nods, including one win for Laura Dern (Big Little Lies) as Nicole’s lawyer, Nora.
Baumbach stalwarts Driver and Gerwig co-lead this existentialist comedy — which premiered at the 79th Venice International Film Festival and earned Driver a Golden Globe nomination — about a blended family in the 1980s. Jack Gladney (Driver) is a professor of Hitler Studies (a field he founded) and shares an all-consuming fear of death with his wife, Babette (Gerwig). Together with their four children (Raffey Cassidy, Sam Nivola, May Nivola, and Henry and Dean Moore), they experience a mysterious Airborne Toxic Event that kicks off a series of increasingly paranoia-fueled incidents. Don Cheadle (House of Lies) and Jodie Turner-Smith (Queen & Slim) also star in this film adapted from Don DeLillo’s 1985 novel.
Work out where the stars shine.
Solve the classic numbers game.
Piece together the big picture.
Turn shapes into something bigger.
Swap letters and emojis into words.
Find the path hidden in words.
Just add vowels.
Put the words back together.
