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Noah Baumbach Casts Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson and Laura Dern in His Next Film

For now, star power is all that’s driving this film forward, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing with these big names on board.
Noah Baumbach Mistress America
By  · Published on November 20th, 2017

For now, star power is all that’s driving this film forward, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing with these big names on board.

Last week, the Tracking Board announced that some extremely notable actors have joined Noah Baumbach‘s latest feature. Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, and Laura Dern are slated to star in Baumbach’s untitled follow-up to the Netflix comedy-drama, The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected).

Merritt Wever and Azhy Robertson will also feature alongside Driver, Johansson, and Dern. There are hardly any details on the plot as of now, although the Tracking Board hypothesizes that Driver and Johansson will play a couple with Robertson as their son.

This news is rather exciting for fans of virtually any one of these collaborators on board, for they’ve all had phenomenal careers in recent years. Driver and Johansson both have enduring blockbuster credentials as Kylo Ren in Star Wars and Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic Universe respectively. These roles have obviously ensured their frequent rotation amongst casting directors. Driver (who also features in The Meyerowitz Storiesmost recently joined Spike Lee’s Black Klansman. Johansson was in talks to star in a Focus Features drama, Reflective Light, last month, and her adventures as Black Widow are apparently far from over too. According to Stan Lee anyway, who seems adamant in thinking that Natasha Romanoff will still get her solo film one day.

Dern is, in general, ruling 2017 after some great runs on TV and an upcoming appearance on Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Dern was part of both the extraordinarily anticipated revival of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks as well as HBO’s well-received miniseries Big Little Lies and won a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress for the latter.

Baumbach’s The Meyerowitz Stories thankfully broke the mold of unfortunate Adam Sandler/Netflix collaborations. As Variety states, “it’s odd to think that the company responsible for “Sandy Wexler” and “The Ridiculous Six” could conceivably earn Sandler his first Oscar nomination — and his best role since “Punch-Drunk Love” played Cannes in 2002.” But the acting in The Meyerowitz Stories has been particularly praised, with some even going so far as to speculate Oscar nominations for the likes of Sam Rockwell.

The Meyerowitz Stories has been touted as Baumbach’s best film. But if the cast of this follow-up is anything to go by, it already looks like Baumbach is getting ready to outdo himself.

Sheryl Oh often finds herself fascinated (and let's be real, a little obsessed) with actors and their onscreen accomplishments, developing Film School Rejects' Filmographies column as a passion project. She's not very good at Twitter but find her at @sherhorowitz anyway. (She/Her)