When I wrote last week’s “White Noise” exposé, if you want to call it that, I didn’t expect it to blow up like it did. I seriously have no issue with any studio giving a great filmmaker like Noah Baumbach $100+ million to make any damn movie that he pleases. I look forward to each and every one of his films.
What I didn’t expect after publishing the piece, which was titled ‘White Noise’: Details Surface About Noah Baumbach’s Catastrophic 9-Month, $140 Million Shoot, was an influx of messages in my inbox thanking me for “exposing” what actually occurred on the set of “White Noise.”
What did I expose exactly? That the budget ballooned to $140 million? Fine. That a stunt went bad on-set? That’s not uncommon. That three crew members died? Purely bad luck and nobody’s fault. That production went on for 9 months? I guess a little excessive. That Baumbach fired his DP mid-shoot? problematic, I guess.
Unless I’m missing some kind of mistreatment on the part of Baumbach towards his cast and crew, I don’t see anything wrong with what occurred on the set of “White Noise.” I’m open to having the people who emailed me elaborate on the matter, but they haven’t, all they have done is thanked me for publishing my piece last week.
Netflix execs are probably shaking their heads for giving Baumbach all this money and creative freedom, but why would cinephiles care about the streaming giant’s monetary issues when we will have the opportunity to watch an unfiltered artistic vision by one of the great American directors working today?
I cannot wait to see what Baumbach has to offer in his adaptation of Dellilo’s absurdist/ambitious novel.