Noah Baumbach Says Greta Gerwig’s Influence on His Work Is “Beyond Advice, It’s the Roots”

Noah Baumbach is known for his autobiographically inspired work, but does not consider his work to be directly of the autobiography genre. “Phillip Roth has a great quote about it,” Baumbach told the Director Roundtable. “He always started by taking two stones of reality and rubbing them together to spark the imagination. I respond to that.”

“I like shooting in New York, I like to shoot on streets that I have memories from childhood. It doesn’t have to have any resonance with the specifics of the movie, but it puts me in a place of creativity, you know? I feel like so much of what we do is a kind of conversation with the child we were, and it’s that place of play.”

Baumbach joined his partner Greta Gerwig for the roundtable (she directs this year’s Little Women remake), and opened up about her creative influence on his work. “It’s beyond advice, it’s like the roots,” Baumbach told the table. “She’s in there from the very beginning.”

Baumbach has one career Oscar nomination for the screenplay for his film The Squid and the Whale. He recently earned his first Golden Globe nomination for his Marriage Story script. The film is also nominated for best motion picture drama at the Globes, along with Randy Newman’s best original score and acting nods for Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver and Laura Dern.

Martin Scorsese (The Irishman), Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story), Greta Gerwig (Little Women), Fernando Meirelles (The Two Popes), Lulu Wang (The Farewell) and Todd Phillips (Joker) joined for the annual Director Roundtable. The full roundtable is set to air Jan. 5 on SundanceTV, Follow all the Oscar-season roundtables at THR.com/Roundtables.

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