A familiar map on foreign territory in Claire Denis’ The Fence.
“The first thing I thought was, it would be cool to make a film with Tom Waits as Adam Driver’s father.”
Naturally, the audience was cued to laugh, as Jim Jarmusch explained his writing process.
“I always have a kind of haphazard way of writing where I’m gathering small ideas that I don’t quite know the overall structure or picture yet,” he explained a moment earlier “And I write thinking of actors I would like to collaborate with on these characters.”
After winning the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, the film was screened at the New York Film Festival as the centerpiece film of the festival. The film, directed by Jim Jarmusch features a triptych focusing on the relationships between adult children reconnecting or coming to terms with aging or lost parents.
So when Jim called, Adam Driver answered the phone immediately.
“Anytime he calls about anything,” Driver said, “Regardless of what it is, if it’s, you know, therapy, wallpaper, I’d be interested in doing that. He’s one of my favorite directors of all time.”
When it was their turn to praise Jarmusch, Indya Moore described their experience working with the director in poetic terms.
“I got to do my best work on James’ film,” they shared, “It was my best work because all of the years of experience that I’ve had, I came up to that moment in the discipline. I got to really fill out my space on set to really embody this character. But when it comes to my instrument as an artist, what I find is that I’m able to provide the most sincere reflection of whatever human experience I’m reflecting as an actor when the environment supports that.”
”I felt respected, there was food,” they added, after noting that Jim curated a safe space on set.
Luka Sabbat echoed similar sentiments. “Jim creates such like a great work environment,” he said, “And he’s particular without like being like arrogant or mean in any sort of way, and he really knows how to communicate his ideas and I feel like as an actor it’s so helpful to be with somebody who really knows what they want and knows how to communicate their ideas, you know.”
Expanding on this, he shares, “I’ve always wanted to be an actor and I grew up watching his films and actually moved to, I grew up in Paris and I had moved to New York to become an actor and then, like, my first big time movie, I got to shoot it back in Paris with one of my favorite directors, so I was like, wow, this is really awesome.”
While all of these actors expressed gratitude to work with Jim Jarmusch, the director himself expressed no desire to see Father Mother Sister Brother following its release in December.
“We presented the film in Venice at the Film Festival, and we presented here,” he said, “And after that, I will see it one time more with a paying audience that doesn’t know I’m there. And then I will never see it again.”
“You can’t change them later,” he added, ‘And I always follow the French poet Paul Belair. He said, ‘A poem is never finished, only abandoned. And you could edit forever and ever.’”
“Father Mother Sister Brother” is now playing at the New York Film Festival, and will be seeing a limited release on December 24, 2025.
Biting cynicism is a hallmark of a Noah Baumbach movie. In the case of Jay Kelly, Baumbach tackles the cynicism of the film industry, or, more specifically, he puts a harsh spotlight on the nature of an A-list acting career that voraciously demands decades of one’s life and self.