Noah Baumbach is easily one of my favorite directors. After delivering something bold and different with Greenberg and helping to write the smart Fantastic Mr. Fox screenplay, the director has lined up his next project.
Ron Howard was going to direct The Emperor’s Children, written by Baumbach, but he will now produce while Baumbach steps into the director’s chair. The Wrap reports Keira Knightley, Eric Bana and Richard Gere will star and they summarize the plot below.
Baumbach adapts from Claire Messud’s 2006 best-selling novel about a trio of Brown University graduates who are approaching their 30s with trepidation as they struggle to realize the lofty expectations held for their personal and professional lives. The novel was set in New York in the months leading up to and following 9/11.
The film sounds like a great addition to a familiar filmography for Baumbach. For most directors I would complain when they aren’t wildly changing it up by the time they hit their fifth or sixth film, but for Baumbach when it works so well, I can’t complain.
Pending financiers, The Emperor’s Children, will start production in the summer.
Do you like Baumbach? Are you looking forward to The Emperor’s Children?