An American family attempts to deal with the aftermath of a cataclysmic event in Director Noah Baumbach’s apocalyptic black comedy, White Noise.
Based on novel by Don DeLillo, Baumbach’s film unveils the story of Jack Gladney, a professor at a local college, his wife Babette and their four children, who must grapple with the universal mysteries of love, death, and the possibility of happiness in an uncertain world after their lives are torn asunder by a catastrophic train accident that spreads chemical waste over their town.
On December 3, after the DGA membership screening in Los Angeles, Baumbach discussed the making of White Noise during a Q&A moderated by Director Todd Field (Tár). He also spoke about the film during a Q&A moderated by Director Shawn Levy (The Adam Project) following the New York screening on December 10.
During the Los Angeles conversation, Baumbach spoke about the joys of working with a large DGA team.
“In a funny way I didn’t know it was going to be bigger. I sort of worked from my own adaptation and from my own ideas, I’ve never been that surprised by the scope of it. But this one, because I was working from the book, I realized there were all these things I had to do. It was a great group though. DGA-wise, I worked with the great 1st AD Jonas Spaccarotelli. I really tried to keep everyone involved and with each other. It’s always kind of a challenge to get all the departments to talk to each other. Generally, there is a core that comes along with each one but it’s great to have a secret language to develop with people and having to explain anew to people.”
Baumbach’s other directorial credits include the feature films Marriage Story, The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected), Mistress America, While We’re Young, Frances Ha, Margot at the Wedding, The Squid and the Whale and Kicking and Screaming.
Baumbach has been a DGA member since 2004.
You can listen to Baumbach's Q&A by clicking the podcast episode embedded below. You can find more DGA podcast episodes here.