While We're Young Page #3

Synopsis: Middle-aged filmmaker Josh Srebnick (Ben Stiller) and his wife, Cornelia (Naomi Watts), are happily married, but stuck in a rut. So, when free-spirited couple Jamie (Adam Driver) and Darby (Amanda Seyfried) enter their lives, it's like a breath of fresh air -- especially for Josh, who pines for a youth he wishes he had. Soon, Josh and Cornelia are ditching friends their own age to hang out with the hipsters -- but whether the friendship can endure despite a 20-year age gap remains to be seen.
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Mystery
Production: A24
  1 win & 2 nominations.
 
IMDB:
6.3
Metacritic:
77
Rotten Tomatoes:
84%
R
Year:
2014
97 min
$7,008,208
Website
1,250 Views


JAMIE:

I found a VHS on Ebay. I paid likesixty dollars for it. You know what

was great, was that scene with thedogs around the garbage? How did youstage that?

JOSH:

Oh...those dogs were just there and Isaid, “Hey shoot those dogs.”

(not a great story)

And...we did.

JAMIE:

(claps his hands together)

Beautiful.

JOSH:

I’ve been working on this other onefor...about eight years now but Ithink I’m zeroing in on it.

JAMIE:

I’d love to see it.

DARBY:

When I was a child my dog was killedin front of me by two rottweilers.

(she starts to laugh)

I don’t know why I’m laughing. It’s

not funny. I was five. My dad and Iwere walking our poodle which I hadnamed Toto and these two rottweilers

came bounding out of an open gate andjust attacked. My dad flagged down apassing car and we climbed in theback and he covered my eyes so Icouldn’t see Toto get mauled.

She covers her face, she’s still laughing.

14.

JOSH:

(hesitates)

I’m sorry to hear that.

JAMIE:

You want to come get a bite with us?

JOSH:

Oh...I’m meeting my...wife around thecorner at this Chinese place.

JAMIE:

Hey, my wife and I are going to thesame goddamn place!

6 INT. CHINESE RESTAURANT. EVENING 6

Josh and Cornelia sit next to each other. Josh is in the

middle of talking to Jamie and Darby who face them across thetable.

JOSH:

...I’ve learned along the way thatyou can discover more by not knowingthe answers, by allowing yourself tobe surprised by what you encounter.

Jamie nods with great interest.

JAMIE:

Yeah, yeah.

JOSH:

Sometimes that means waiting yearsfor something to happen. I don’t

know. I could go on about this stufffor days.

JAMIE:

How did you start out, like whoinfluenced you?

JOSH:

Oh, I steal from everyone, you know,

Maysles, Wiseman, Pennebaker... Myfirst job out of graduate school wasworking for Leslie Breitbart.

JAMIE:

(impressed)

Jeez Louise.

15.

JOSH:

That’s also incidentally how I metCornelia. He’s her dad.

JAMIE:

What?!

CORNELIA:

This is before they hated each other.

JOSH:

We don’t hate each other. Cornelia

produces her dad’s films.

JAMIE:

He’s amazing.

CORNELIA:

Yeah, he’s kind of annoying me rightnow, but...yeah.

JAMIE:

He’s a giant. He’s a guy I’d love tomeet. Do you also produce Josh’sfilms?

CORNELIA:

No, Josh likes to work alone.

JAMIE:

(again with real interest,

to Josh)

Josh, what’s your new film about?

JOSH:

Well, I’m trying to solve the problemthat Eisenstein never solved -- that

is how to make a film that is both

materialist and intellectual at the

same time --

Darby gets a text and starts to reply. Jamie yawns openly.

Josh feels he’s losing his audience but keeps going.

JOSH:

It’s about the distinctly Americanrelationship between biography andhistory, theory and method and howthat relates to power and class in ourcountry, particularly the political,

military and economic elite.

(sensing he’s lost them)

It’s really about America.

Blue (09/16/2013) 1616.

Jamie takes out a pad and pen and scribbles something down.

JAMIE:

Eisenstein is astonishing. I justsaw Strike! I’m obsessed with Europein the 20’s, see. The interwar

period, ex-patriots, that sort ofthing.

DARBY:

I keep trying to get Jamie to dosomething with before and afters.

All humans love before and afters.

Any TV show with before and afterswill succeed.

JAMIE:

(smiles broadly)

Before you said that.

(Jamie frowns)

After you said that.

DARBY:

(shakes her head)

F*** you.

He grabs her breast she smacks his hand playfully and returnsto her phone and answers a text. Cornelia tries an

accommodating smile.

CORNELIA:

What do you do, Darby?

JAMIE:

Darby makes ice cream.

CORNELIA:

Oh, yeah?

DARBY:

(shrugs, texting)

Yeah, I make ice cream.

JAMIE:

I brought it over to the Whole Foodsnear us and they’re pumped.

DARBY:

It’s Jamie’s idea to sell it, I justdo it because I like it.

CORNELIA:

And you guys are married?

Blue (09/16/2013) 16A16A.

They both nod in unison.

17.

CORNELIA:

That’s so nice and old fashioned.

JAMIE:

Yeah. We said our vows in an emptywater tower in Harlem.

CORNELIA:

Oh.

DARBY:

There was a mariachi band and a slipand slide.

JOSH:

Wow.

DARBY JAMIE:

Jamie wanted a big wedding. It was amazing. Some rituals

exist for a reason, you know.

CORNELIA:

(glances at Josh)

Yeah. We did it at city hall.

DARBY:

(looking up from a text)

Isaac and Benny are walking thetracks.

JAMIE:

Have you guys done this? We walked

through the subway tunnels on the Dline last week.

JOSH:

(as if it’s commonplace)

No, no, we haven’t.

DARBY:

They’re at a Bar on Essex. You want

to come?

JOSH:

(to Cornelia)

Oh, do we -- ?

CORNELIA:

It’s already past our bedtime.

JOSH:

(sheepishly)

Yeah, we’re usually in bed by eleven.

Blue (09/16/2013) 1818.

The check is placed on the table. Anticipating someresistance, Josh puts his hand on the check.

JOSH:

Let me get it.

JAMIE:

(eagerly)

Thanks.

DARBY:

Yeah, thanks.

Josh’s hand remains on the check in preparation for it to betaken from him. Nothing happens.

JOSH:

No, yeah, I’ll get it.

7 EXT. CHINESE RESTAURANT. EVENING 7

Jamie and Darby unlock their bikes which are chained to astreet-sign with old-school bike chains. Jamie attaches the

chain to his pants like an accessory.

JAMIE:

If you’ve got any time -- and I knowyou’re super busy -- I’d love to showyou what I’m working on.

DARBY:

Come by our place this weekend.

(to Cornelia)

I have my fall flavors.

Jamie gives Josh an old Polaroid of himself and writes hisnumber on it with a sharpie. His handwriting is in all caps,

very precise.

JAMIE:

They don’t make this film anymore. I

bought four hundred packs before theydiscontinued it.

Jamie, without a helmet, hops on his bike which has acrocheted seat. Darby is still tying her helmet.

JAMIE:

Let’s go, worm!

(to Josh and Cornelia)

Peace.

Pink (09/30/2013) 1919.

DARBY:

(to Josh and Cornelia)

Jamie is always moving. I can’t leapas fast as that kid. I don’t move as

quickly.

They both pedal into the center of the street. The

streetlight giving them a kind of glow. We MOVE in on Josh

and Cornelia. They don’t know what hit them.

JOSH (V.O.)

I like how engaged they are ineverything.

INT. JOSH/CORNELIA APT. - BEDROOM. NIGHT 8

Cornelia is reading on her Kindle. Josh stands in the

bathroom doorway.

CORNELIA:

Mm.

JOSH:

They’re all making things and they’reso excited for each other. It’s

selfless. They were so respectful of

us. I mean, compared to when we goout with Fletcher and Marina I feel *

like we’re all just talking aboutourselves... They asked questions.

CORNELIA:

They didn’t ask me any questions.

JOSH:

When I was their age I would neverhave come up to me like that andinvited me out. I would have been

too scared... They’re really not

nervous.

CORNELIA:

I wish you hadn’t told him I workwith my dad.

JOSH:

Why?

CORNELIA:

I don’t know, he seems ambitious.

JOSH:

No! I don’t think he thinks that

way. It’s about process.

Rate this script:4.5 / 2 votes

Noah Baumbach

Noah Baumbach is an American independent filmmaker. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for The Squid and the Whale and is known for making dramatic comedies. more…

All Noah Baumbach scripts | Noah Baumbach Scripts

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Submitted by aviv on November 10, 2016

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