CS Video: Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach on Mistress America

Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach on their latest collaboration, Mistress America

When Greta Gerwig co-starred in Noah Baumbach’s Greenberg five years ago, co-written by Baumbach’s then-wife Jennifer Jason Leigh, little would they know that it would be the start of a creative collaboration that would extend to two more movies.

The first of those films, 2013’s Frances Ha was very much a vehicle for Gerwig, who was nominated for a Golden Globe, and since then, the duo have become a couple with Baumbach moving back to New York and the focus of his films shifting back to the East Coast as well. 

Gerwig stars and co-wrote Baumbach’s eighth feature film, Mistress America, which stars newcomer Lola Kirke as 18-year-old Tracy, a freshman in college who feels unsatisfied and alone until she connects with her future stepsister Brooke (Gerwig), who ends up becoming a muse for a short story she’s writing in hopes of getting into the college’s literary society. 

Premiering at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Mistress America falls somewhere between Frances Ha and Baumbach’s earlier 2015 film, While We’re Young, as Gerwig’s character is much harder to like since she’s very pretentious and self-involved, but it also follows along Baumbach’s tradition for getting the biggest laughs from the worst of people. Clearly, the pairing of the two as writers is bringing out the best in both of them, though, as the dialogue of Mistress America is on par with their best with Gerwig and Kirke surrounded by an eclectic cast of lesser-known actors. 

ComingSoon.net had a chance to sit down with both filmmakers at a recent New York press day where we spoke to Gerwig and Baumbach in separate interviews that you can watch in the video players below.

Mistress America opens in New York and L.A. on Friday, August 14, and then will expand to other cities after that. Look for our interview with the film’s other star, Lola Kirke, sometime soon.

Greta Gerwig

Noah Baumbach

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