Quotes from Noah Baumbach

I read all the time. Sometimes I get asked if I've thought about writing a novel.

I know people who are incredibly successful who still dress the way they did when they were 18, just because they still think that's how they look good.

Wes Anderson grew up in Houston, and he and I talk about Manhattan in similar ways, as a kind of fantasy world.

I'm interested in music as an extension of character.

I didn't train in directing; I talk to actors the way I talk to anybody.

I think all my movies are about transitions to some degree.

I'm always looking for overlooked post-Dylan singer-songwriter records from the '70s.

I've definitely been in situations where I could tell someone was interested in me, but I could tell they were insulting me in some passive/aggressive way, so I felt bad about myself at the same time.

There is an isolated experience to being a director. It's very communal because there's a crew, but it's only you. You're the one on the hook.

My dad was a great movie companion. He wouldn't diminish 'The Jerk.' If I liked it, he liked it. He could see it through my eyes.

I like shooting in New York because I have such a connection to the city. I have so many memories there.

Woody Allen's movies are so much a part of me. I grew up watching them over and over and would read all his comic pieces for the New Yorker. In some ways, his influence is so much there that I can't even locate it any more.

A film set becomes its own family anyway, and all family dynamics come out during a shoot. The trick is hiring people who know how to handle that.

I love black-and-white movies that are about contemporary subjects.

I've had great experiences or joyful experiences making a movie that people found very disturbing.

As a kid, I thought of myself as a funny person who secretly wanted to be serious, but now I think maybe I'm a serious person who secretly wants to be funny.

I've always felt some kind of connection to people who are kind of over-smart. People who over-think things to the point of some sort of paralysis, and I think that certainly can be me on any given day.

I was late to the Knicks. My dad was a big fan. But I first started watching baseball; I became a Red Sox fan. My dad was a Mets fan. I wanted to have my own team and league.

There are the people who overthink making mix CDs and playlists, and how that works generationally is all really interesting to me.

I used to get up and write every day, even if I wasn't working on a specific thing. Now, when I have a thing I'm in the middle of, I do that, but when I'm not, time can go by when I'm not writing at all.

I don't like when you necessarily know that this is the end of the movie. I like when a movie ends abruptly. You go through this, and some of the scenes are uncomfortable, and some are funny - and then suddenly it's over.

It's near impossible to make a movie in black and white in the system.

I call my wife and tell her I'm going to sleep at the lab. She reminds me that she left me a week ago. Louis tries to crack me up by pantomiming humping a chimp through the cage.

I like to try to shoot in the city in a way that allows the city to go about its business while we're shooting, and that's always a challenge because, unfortunately, people on the street don't know not to look in the camera or interact with the actors.