With yesterday’s news that Emma Watson is reteaming with her The Perks of Being a Wallflower filmmaker Stephen Chbosky for While We’re Young, yet another literary adaptation for the duo (this time of a book by Adena Halpern), there comes both excitement and the lingering sense of “wait, that title sure sounds familiar.” It should – because Noah Baumbach just so happens to be in the middle of crafting his own film titled While We’re Young. Red alert, people, red alert.
The popular title is not to be confused with the One Direction song “Live While We’re Young” (don’t let that header image fool you), the teasing comment your sassy grandma yells out when you take too long to drive her to bingo, or the USGA’s “pace of play pledge” that they’ve styled around the saying (golfers, what can you do?). But the saddling of two very different films with the same title will inevitably lead to some confusion, so with that in mind, we’ve cooked up a handy guide to telling apart your dueling While We’re Young films. Here’s hoping no one else decides to jump on this moniker-addled bandwagon, we’ll just have to update this damn thing.
Noah Baumbach’s While We’re Young
Plot: Per IMDb, “an uptight documentary filmmaker and his wife find their lives loosened up a bit after befriending a free-spirited younger couple.” Baumbach doing uptight, arty people? You don’t say.
Director: Baumbach.
Screenwriter: Baumbach.
Cast: Naomi Watts, Amanda Seyfried, Ben Stiller, Adam Driver, and many more. Amusingly, as of this writing, Watson is also listed in the cast, because someone in charge of adding cast members to IMDb pages clearly needed this guide before tossing her in there.
Source material: We can only assume Baumbach’s own life.
Genre: Biting dramedy.
Status: The film is currently in production (in fact, earlier this month Baumbach was actually filming scenes for it during a red carpet event at NYFF, cleverly enough).
Expected release: Strangely, IMDb says both 2015 and 2014. We’ll go with 2014.
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Stephen Chbosky’s While We’re Young
Plot: Per yesterday’s announcement, the film centers on “a 75-year-old woman, still feeling frisky and that she has far more in common with her 29-year-old granddaughter than with her stuffy 55-year-old daughter, is granted a birthday wish. She gets to be 29 again, for a day. She uses the time to go on an adventure with her now same-aged granddaughter.” Adorable!
Director: Chbosky.
Screenwriters: IMDb says Karen McCullah and Kristen Smith, but yesterday’s Deadline post says it will go to (500) Days of Summer and The Spectacular Now scribes Michael H. Weber and Scott Neustadter.
Cast: Watson is so far the only cast member, and it’s currently unclear who she’ll play (grandma or granddaughter, either could be great).
Source material: Adena Halpern’s novel, “29.”
Genre: IDMb currently classifies it as a straight comedy, but we’re positive it will got a bit more dramatic at times.
Status: Currently casting.
Expected release: 2014 or 2015.
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So who is going to back down on this title thing first? Sure, nobody has to, but it’s probably in the best interest for everyone that someone loosens their grip on those three little words. Our bet? Chbosky and company will revert to the book’s title or simply cook up something new – Baumbach already has the jump on production and Chbosky’s film has little claim on the moniker. Let’s just hope they change it while we’re (still) young. (Sorry.)