I’ve interviewed Noah Baumbach a few times over the years, but always over the phone — we didn’t even meet in person until last year at TIFF, when we happened to be seated across the aisle from one another at the premiere of Eden.

Anyhow, we finally got to sit down last week — in New York, for lunch at Lafayette. We talked about his career, and his new movie Mistress America. It was swell. (He wants to do the podcast!) And it’s the cover story in this week’s NOW, so you should check it out — along with the accompanying Q&A with star Lola Kirke, and a Top Five of Baumbach’s recent influences.

Also while I was there, I talked to Sarah-Violet Bliss, Charles Rogers, Bridey Elliott and Clare McNulty, who are the writer-directors and stars of Fort Tilden, another really good movie that’s opening this week– and which bears a couple of intriguing thematic similarities to Baumbach’s film. Funny how these things go, isn’t it?