One of the best pleasant surprises of the initial Toronto International Film Festival announcement this morning? The surprise reveal of a new Noah Baumbach film. While Baumbach, the filmmaker behind "The Squid and the Whale," hinted to us in a recent interview that something was up his sleeve, we didn't imagine it was something we'd be seeing so soon.
Titled "Frances Ha," co-written by Baumbach with his girlfriend Greta Gerwig, plus starring Gerwig herself and Mickey Sumner ("Last Chance Harvey"), we've finally received a first look at the under-the-radar picture. And first and foremost, we'll all note that the picture is shot in black and white (this time instead of cinematographer Harris Savides, Baumbach has Sam Levy, of "Wendy and Lucy" fame, shooting the picture). And clearly this is the picture Gerwig was talking about when she hinted a few months ago that she was at work on a "secret" picture.
"[It's] a love story about girls. It’s a girl who’s in love with her best friend, but not sexually. It’s sort of that moment when you realise, 'Oh, so we won’t all move in together,' and you’re going to move on with your life," Gerwig said adding, "I’m really proud of it. I think it’s really good."
A few more details have arrived courtesy of the TIFF website. Here' sthe synopsis: An aspiring dancer (co-writer Greta Gerwig) moves to New York City and becomes caught up in a whirlwind of flighty fair-weather friends, diminishing fortunes and career setbacks, in the new film from director Noah Baumbach ("Margot at the Wedding," "Greenberg").
Scott Rudin, who's worked closely with Baumbach on his last three projects, is a producer along with Baumbach, Lila Yacoub, Rodrigo Teixeira and the picture is a brief 86 minutes long. The picture has no distribution yet, but that's what its TIFF appearance will be all about. It also looks like astute reader pointed out something we missed: it appear that Adam Driver of HBO's "Girls" (the character Adam), is also in this picture. Certainly looks like him in the fedora, no?
