Noah Baumbach’s latest, “Greenberg,” is easily one of our most anticipated films of the year. Boasting a cast that includes Ben Stiller, Rhys Ifans, Jennifer Jason Leigh and mumblecore veteran Greta Gerwig, and scored by LCD Soundsystem this mid-life crisis dramedy had us sold with its “All My Friends” powered trailer.
One of the things that excited us was seeing Ben Stiller in a movie where he’s not being chased by CGI or getting “Focked”, and his co-star Greta Gerwig confirms that his turn in “Greenberg” will be something different than what we’re used to from teh actor lately: “I think people are going to be shocked and deeply impressed by Ben’s performance. I think he’s a brilliant actor, but this is so unlike anything you’ve ever seen from him that within 10 minutes of watching him, every image of Ben will be wiped from your memory.”
Mark Duplass also recounts some positive memories working with Ben Stiller: “He was so nice and he was asking me all about my Searchlight movie [“Cyrus”], and I was telling him about how I was having some concerns, like, “Do my friends think that my brother [who co-directed] and I are selling out by doing this big studio movie?” Which is valid on some level. And he was just kind of taking it in and was very sensitive. Then I saw Greta a few weeks later and she was like, “I was talking to Ben the other day and he was telling me about your concerns of being a sellout on your Searchlight movie,” and he was so mystified. And she did such a good impression of him, which I can’t do: “Yeah…it was weird hearing that. In my world, if you do a Searchlight or a Focus movie, that’s how you get your indie cred back!” Well, if the film is as good as we hope it will be Stiller’s cred will be earned back with us. “Greenberg” opens on March 26th. — Terrance Wedin
