Noah Baumbach Heads to Netflix
Tuesday, April 11, 2017 at 9:00PM 
Chris here. Consider me outright clamoring for whatever Noah Baumbach does next, even if Mistress America (and for that matter his DePalma doc) wasn't as long ago as it feels like. Time is a slow beast when you're waiting on beloved writer/directors. His next, The Meyerowitz Stories, is his most star-studded and it just got picked up by Netflix.
The film stars Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson (all hippied out to the left), Ben Stiller, and now Netflix mainstay Adam Sandler as a family reuniting in New York to celebrate their artist father. Baumbach's work has been an evolving array of comic tones, so where on his spectrum it will land from bitter pill Margot at the Wedding to the farce of Mistress America is anyone's guess. If nothing else, this could be his largest platform yet - especially if this noteworthy cast is also met with Baumbach's less misanthropic side.
Netflix, for what it's worth, already has confidence in the film: this will be one of their few titles that will also receive a theatrical release, along with this year's Oscar hopeful Mudbound.
Baumbach's films have only been outside shots at best, aside from a screenplay nomination for The Squid and the Whale and some Globe-nominated performances. But if this could even be a comedy contender at the Globes, I suspect Netflix will need to put more than a toe in the theatrical waters to clearly mark its theatrical/television territory. Are you excited for Noah Baumbach's latest?
Reader Comments (17)
Amy Adams taking Emma Thompson's rightful fifth acting nod must be rectified immediately.
The random lashing out is very United Airlines.
I am thrilled if any good content gets released. What happened to The Nix?
Noah Baumbach looks so much like Jason Shwartzman, it's scary.
Yay! Penny Marshall is making a comeback to acting!!
Brad: I came to post something very similar, but yours is better.
For a few years I've imagined a LAVERNE & SHIRLEY reboot with Zoe Kazan and Zooey Deschanel, but Emma Thompson is making me rethink that.
I hope Emma goes there. Regarding The Nix from the author: "Well, we’re actually waiting to see where it will land: Netflix, Amazon, Showtime. I have been in contact with the guy who’s going to be our showrunner and is doing the adaptation. His name is John Logan (creator of the Showtime series “Penny Dreadful”) and he’s a fantastic guy and an incredibly talented writer. I’m really excited. We have a lot of firepower behind it. Nothing in Hollywood is set in stone until it’s actually made, so we’re kind of circling around it. But hopefully, we’ll get the green light."
Reminds me The Cobbler and that is not a happy thought.
Brad and Brevity - Exactly my thought! Baumbach is always worth seeing, anyway.
I'm ok with Netflix and Baumbach. His films are perfectly suited for the small screen so I'm happy to see it either way: the theatrical release or in my living room. And the pairing of Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson (which worked so well in Last Chance Harvey) is great.
(Aw, Peggy Sue. I liked The Cobbler (party of one, I guess). But then I think Tom McCarthy is a brilliant writer, and I've enjoyed ALL of his films.)
I loved The Squid and the Whale so much but his mother movies I've seen since that have somewhat underwhelmed, even if they were fine. The exception is Fantastic Mr. Fox, which he didn't direct but it was just so charming.
Anytime Dustin Hoffman does something, it deserves attention. And Emma? Grand dame, full stop. But Baumbauch has never done anything to impress me. He came close with Frances Ha, but I find his other movies just insufferable.
Imagining Emma Thompson and Adam Sandler as siblings is bizarre.
Also: Last Chance Harvey.
I am neither a Dustin Hoffman nor Adam Sandler Fan.
But I love Noah and Emma.
No love for Frances Ha? By far his best film.
Only excited if it gets a true theatrical release. If it's a limited release but most people have to stream it on Netflix , that will be a crime.
We all know that Academy Award nominee Adam Sandler is a certain possibility in the future... he already was worthy for Punch Drunk Love, and good in Spanglish, so yeah, he has chops, but... somehow he seems to not care anymore, to dare in ACTING. Maybe this is a sign, he is reacting to his critical status?
Sandler was terrific in Reign Over Me as well...