The movie Noah Baumbach admitted was a “mess”
Since making his feature-length directorial debut on 1995’s Kicking and Screaming, Noah Baumbach has gone on to evolve from one of the founding fathers of the mumblecore movement to a critically acclaimed and award-nominated auteur lauded as one of the most distinctive around.
He’s since helmed another 14 features, co-written the screenplays for The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and Fantastic Mr. Fox alongside Wes Anderson, rewritten animated sequel Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted at Ben Stiller’s urging, co-directed documentary De Palma with Jake Paltrow, and more recently collaborated once again with on and off-screen partner Greta Gerwig for the all-conquering Barbie.
Along the way, he’s landed four Academy Award nominations, worked with some of the most prominent performers in the business, and struck up a fruitful partnership with Netflix, all while continuing to disavow a movie he made over two decades ago that he co-wrote, starred in, and directed.
2002’s Highball follows Christopher Reed’s Travis and Lauren Katz’s Diane as they attempt to improve their social standing by throwing a trio of excellent parties, inviting a raft of friends, colleagues, acquaintances and associates to their apartment in Brooklyn, with the events taking place on a birthday, Halloween, and New Year’s Eve.
Despite its release date, though, Highball was actually shot in 1997 and abandoned by Baumbach when he couldn’t find a version of the film that he deemed worthy of release. However, as his profile continued to rise, the producers cobbled together a version of the story anyway and made it available for purchase against his wishes, which saw the filmmaker demand his name be removed from the production altogether.
Of course, he’s still listed as a cast member for obvious reasons after taking second billing as Philip, but despite being Highball‘s director and one of three writers with Carlos Jacott and Christopher Reed, the names on the film that was sent to DVD belong to Ernie Fusco and Jesse Carter, two pseudonyms being enough after Baumbach’s co-writers also disavowed the movie.
When asked by The A.V. Club why he disowned it, Baumbach offered a rational explanation. “It’s not obvious? The truth is, I never ‘owned’ Highball,” he said. “It really was an experiment, and kind of a foolish experiment, because I didn’t think about what the ramifications would be if it didn’t work.”
He didn’t think it was actively terrible, but neither did he think it was something that should have been released in any form, either. “It was a funny script. But it was just too ambitious. We didn’t have enough time, we didn’t finish it, it didn’t look good, it was just a whole… mess,” he continued. “We couldn’t get it done, and I had a falling out with the producer. He abandoned it, and I had no money to finish it, to go back and maybe get two more days or something. Then later, it was put out on DVD without my approval.”
It’s hardly a secret that Highball is a Noah Baumbach film, then, nor is it one that he considers to be a part of his back catalogue in any official capacity.
