Netflix, Adam Driver, Gerwig, Baumbach Bring White Noise to Cleveland

The Greater Cleveland area will host the latest Netflix studio project White Noise, starring Academy Award nominees Adam Driver (Marriage Story) and Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird) and directed by Noah Baumbach (who directed Driver in Marriage Story). The project is an adaptation of the novel, White Noise, by Don DeLillo. Sources tell SCREEN filming begins June 28th in Cleveland and will continue through the end of September, with a budget in the $80-100 million range.

Set at a bucolic Midwestern college known only as The-College-on-the-Hill, White Noise follows a year in the life of Jack Gladney (played by Driver), a professor who has made his name by pioneering the field of Hitler studies.

White Noise marks a reunion for actor Driver and director Baumbach, who earned Oscar nominations for their collaboration with Scarlett Johansson in Marriage Story, which was also produced for Netflix.

As for the supporting cast, Jodie Turner-Smith will be joining Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig in Cleveland this month for White Noise. Turner-Smith, whose breakout role came in the Universal drama Queen & Slim, was most recently seen opposite Michael B. Jordan in Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse.  English actor Raffey Cassidy (Snow White and the Huntsman), Sam Nivola and May Nivola are also on board.

Putting State Tax Incentives to Work

According to the Ohio Development Services Agency, this Netflix feature film production was approved for state tax credits valued at an estimated $23.8 million.

According to the Greater Cleveland Film Commission, the Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit has generated an economic impact of $700-million in the state. The appealing tax credit program has attracted a number of studio projects to Ohio in recent years, including the mega-budget blockbuster The Avengers, helmed by Marvel directors Joe and Anthony Russo, who are Cleveland natives.

This will be the first movie filmed in Northeast Ohio since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with past projects including Cherry and Judas and the Black Messiah.

A Closer Look at White Noise

For a quick, no-frills rundown of DeLillo’s novel White Noise and a potential preview of what to expect from Baumbach’s upcoming feature, you can peruse the following video brief:

Check back here at SCREEN Magazine for updates on supporting cast, locations, release dates, and more, as White Noise heads into production this month.

Photo Credit: Adam Driver photo from Dick Thomas Johnson, used under CC-BY-SA 2.0