FILM 2191: MARRIAGE STORY (2019)

TRIVIA: Based in large part on Noah Baumbach's own experiences when he divorced Jennifer Jason Leigh in 2013. According to Baumbach, Leigh read the script, has seen the film, and likes it.

Laura Dern's character is loosely based on Los Angeles celebrity attorney Laura Wasserwho represented Dern, Scarlett Johansson and Noah Baumbach during their respective divorces. Mediation scenes were filmed in Wasser's real office building.

When Noah Baumbach approached Scarlett Johansson to join the film, unbeknownst to him, Scarlett was actually going through her second divorce.

Both Noah Baumbach and Adam Driver were fans of Stephen Sondheim's classic 1970 Broadway musical "Company;" thus both decided to have Charlie sing "Being Alive" and Nicole sing "You Could Drive a Person Crazy" in the film. And long before they collaborated on Marriage Story (2019), Driver had proposed to Baumbach that they should create a film version of "Company."

Third film starring Scarlett Johansson that was inspired by a writer-director's own experience with divorce; the previous films being Lost in Translation (2003) for Sofia Coppola and Her (2013) for Spike Jonze respectively. Interestingly enough, Coppola and Jonze were married to each other in the past.

First film to be distributed primarily by a streaming service (Netflix) to win an Academy Award in an acting category. Also, the first streaming film to win a BAFTA and a Golden Globe in acting categories.

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