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oah Baumbach’s Marriage Story
centers on the emotionally
draining divorce of a couple.
While that sounds like a very
sad and difficult story to watch,
and at times it is, it’s also a beautiful and often
funny love story. The film, which debuted at
the Venice Film Festival in August, centers
on New York-based theater director Charlie
(Adam Driver) and his wife, an actress named
Nicole (Scarlett Johansson), who are on the
brink of a breakup after Nicole decides that
she wants to move to Los Angeles with their
young son. The pair sets out to amicably
divorce but, influenced by a pair of cutthroat
lawyers (played by Laura Dern and Ray Liotta),
things quickly turn ugly.
In particular, there’s a blowout fight scene
between Driver’s and Johansson’s characters
that not only stunned screening and theat-
rical audiences but also led to many online
memes after the film hit Netflix on Dec. 6.
Plus, there was a flurry of online arguments
about whether the film portrayed Nicole or
Charlie as the more guilty party. ProducerDavid Heyman finds the fact that the film
has sparked discussion to be especially excit-
ing. “I think that’s the mark of a really good
film, that the journey does not end when the
film ends,” he says. Heyman, who also pro-
duced fellow best picture nominee Once Upon
a Time in Hollywood, spoke to THR about why
the love story about divorce resonated with
him, his thoughts on whether the film favors
one person over the other and how he’s been
juggling two contenders during a very busy
awards season.This was your first time working with Noah
Baumbach, who has a very specific, detailed
style of directing. What did you know about him
going into this, and what surprised you?
DAVID HEYMAN I knew his work, and I had had
dinner with him. We met with Lucy Dahl,
who was married to Roald Dahl, when Noah
and Wes [Anderson] were writing Fantastic
Mr. Fox. We really got along. He’s very precise.
The film you see is very much the script he’s
written. I was recently asked about my favorite
scenes that he cut. And actually, he cut almostMarriage Story
Noah Baumbach’s love story about a broken marriage
showcases breathtaking performances by Adam Driver
and Scarlett Johansson BY REBECCA FORDnothing. It’s so precise. But I suppose what
surprised me is that for as exacting as he
is, how collaborative he is. He likes to talk
everything through. From production design
all the way down to the marketing, he’s always
analyzing, questioning
to get a real 360 view of
the whole piece.The film is so relatable
to viewers, even if they
have never gone through
a divorce. What did you
find personally relatable?
I think it’s finding,
through the journey of
separation, the redefi-
nition of a relationship
and the fondness and
the love that remains.
Because when you’ve
shared the experience
of having a child — I
mean, I’ve not been divorced from the mother
of my child, but when you’ve had that inti-
mate experience, when you’ve been so close
to someone for a year, two years, three years,
putting aside a child — when you move on,
that experience still is a part of you. And
sometimes I know that people separate and
never want to talk to their partners again.
For me, I’ve remained friends with most of
mine. It’s about just getting to that place
where you can celebrate what is positive about
the relationship, and holding on to that and
remembering it. And that I found very relat-
able and very, very, very moving. The film is
fundamentally a love story — it’s a story of a
marriage told through divorce, and that idea
of looking at a relationship and appreciating
the relationship even after it’s over is quite
relatable to me.Marriage Story earned three acting nominations.
What is it about Noah that he’s able to get those
sort of performances?
I think it’s several things. One, the script is soBEST PICTUREVITAL STATSSTUDIO Netflix
RELEASE DATE Dec. 6
WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE
N/A
DIRECTOR Noah Baumbach
CAST
Adam Driver,
Scarlett Johansson,
Laura Dern
TOP AWARDS
6 Oscar noms,
5 BAFTA noms, 1 Globe win,
3 SAG Award noms