When I covered Greta Gerwig’s Vogue cover interview, I wrote at length about my irritation with the continuing erasure of Jennifer Jason Leigh in both Gerwig and Noah Baumbach’s Oscar campaigns. Noah is campaigning for Marriage Story, which he wrote and directed (and which is loosely based on his own marriage/divorce to/from JJL). Greta is campaigning for Little Women, which she wrote and directed while she was pregnant with Noah’s second son. Jennifer Jason Leigh gave birth to Noah’s first son… as she was leaving him in 2010. During their campaigns thus far, Greta and Noah have not even been asked about the start of their relationship and whether there was a time when Greta was his mistress, or whether Greta was “the reason” why JJL left Noah. The speculation has been there for years though. And so now, Greta and Noah cover the Hollywood Reporter together and the piece is all about how they’re the first romantic couple who could be competing for Best Director/Best Picture Oscars. And wouldn’t you know, THR asked them directly about JJL.
Neither Gerwig nor Baumbach talks about the genesis of their romantic relationship. They deflect questions about how they fell in love with different tactics — she changes the subject with a blithe observation about an unrelated topic (Baumbach’s inability to darn socks), he scowls and stirs his yogurt — each saying nothing in their own way.
Still, it’s possible to piece together some of the story. They met in 2009 on the set of Baumbach’s comedy-drama Greenberg, which he co-wrote with then-wife Leigh, who also played a supporting role. In previous interviews, Baumbach has said that his relationship with Gerwig began in 2011, a year after divorce proceedings with Leigh began. “I didn’t really notice anything,” says Ben Stiller of working with Baumbach and Gerwig on Greenberg — he starred as a loser brother who house-sits for his more successful sibling and ends up falling for a personal assistant (played by Gerwig). “She was kind of doing what she did and Noah was responding to it the same way he would respond to other actresses,” says Stiller. “I was just trying to understand my own dynamic with him.”
Adam Driver’s character in Marriage Story — an $18 million film about a director’s disintegrating relationship with his actress wife, played by Scarlett Johansson — wrecks his marriage by cheating with … a personal assistant. “It’s not autobiographical,” Baumbach insists when asked about the similarities between his life and the film. “It’s personal. A David Lynch movie is the most personal filmmaking I could ever imagine. But nobody asks him if those things actually happened to him. It’s all him. It’s all his expression.”
Gerwig jumps to her boyfriend’s defense, revealing a difference between Baumbach and his onscreen alter ego. “Noah would never sing,” she points out, referring to a scene in Marriage Story in which Driver belts out a melancholy rendition of Stephen Sondheim’s “Being Alive” in front of supportive friends. “There’s a few things.”
“…She changes the subject with a blithe observation about an unrelated topic (Baumbach’s inability to darn socks)…” Smooth. “So were you the reason why Jennifer Jason Leigh filed for divorce?” “He cannot darn socks, isn’t that cute?” The Sock Defense. I mean, look, I’m not saying I know what happened between these three people. I do not. But I know a story is shady as f–k when a trade paper like the Hollywood Reporter LEADS their cover story with this section, and when two of the people involved can’t get their stories straight. This… is going to become a bigger issue in the weeks to come. It will blow up if JJL chooses to say anything about it. I think that’s why Greta and Noah are being so squirrelly too – they’re worried that JJL is going to pop up and issue some statement and both of their Oscar campaigns will be dead in the water.
Cover courtesy of THR, additional photos courtesy of WENN.
Love their work but hate their start.
You know, a lot of these comments say “life is messy “, “why bother asking them this??”, ‘“Why are we speaking for JLL? She seems to have moved on”
And yet I have been thinking something else that is rarely mentioned . as a female filmmaker and as one who has watched so many female filmmakers – even very established ones! – struggle & hustle for YEARS and years. I think it’s pretty messed up that Greta Gerwig basically got on the fast track to financing, exposure, publicity & namely TWO AWARD CAMPAIGNS – one for her debut feature (Not only is it unheard, but it’s literally unprecedented) and really things that for a feature film and your debut most female writer/directors can never dream of. Imagine if she never met Baumbach, do you think that she would be where she is now with all these crucial yet denied things women filmmakers fight years to get? No, she’d be hustling like the rest of us.
Honestly, I’m surprised nobody brings this up. So many female filmmakers work their ass off and would never dream of getting the things Gerwig has gotten out of this affair turned relationship. It’s just so messed up, also – there’s plenty of “first couples of film “but THR decided to put a conventionally attractive blonde white woman & her Woody Allen wannabe boyfriend. Personally I like Lulu Wang (The Farewell) & Barry Jenkins (Moonlight) as a Couple of Film, but we know the deal & they would never be on it. Just more proof how broken the system is for women writer/directors.
There’s no voting system here, but I’d upvote this comment a thousand times if I could.
OTOH, I thought Jenkins was gay. You learn something new every day…
1 million plus upvotes for sure
I don’t know if Ben stiller is the best character witness. I don’t know if there was any overlapping here, but I don’t think it’s a bad question to ask since this is about his divorce. You can’t talk about something as personal as a divorce and then not being asked about something that may have started the divorce.
Ben Stiller is the last f**king person that should be commenting on fidelity in marriage. Also, he’s a known p***k on nearly every set he’s ever worked on.
JJL has kept quiet all these years.
I’m keen on watching Marriage Story but I don’t want these two to win anything.
Is she wearing the olive dress Meghan wore in SA on the cover?
As for the cheating – it is an open secret. And why’s done in the dark eventually comes to light. I do wonder if it’s significant enough (for the voters) to affect their campaigns though. After all, Hollywood isn’t necessarily known for its high moral character
I was thinking the same thing. Casey Affleck still won Best Actor despite sexual harassment allegations.
Honestly, it’s way more sickening than will ever be described. JJL was IN LABOR and Baumbach/Gerwig, both *knowing that* decided to literally run off together since it was that post-Greenberg honeymoonish (affair version) phase for them. Baumbach said ‘sorry not sorry’ essentially & was MIA for the birth of his first child. JJL filed months later.
Like I said before even regardless of gender (but still, as a woman??) why would you want to be with a person/man that would do the whole “let’s run away together” as his wife is pushing out their baby. Even more ick, she co-wrote Greta’s break out role in Greenberg. really, extremely f-cked actions. Baumbach has always been a self involved ass who wants to be the next Woody Allen – but Greta has shown her true colors over & over. She wants to be THE female director too, Known & treated *like* movie star, but THE FamousFemale Director. Cover of Vogue? Seriously? 😂
It’s sad bc you never see ANY female directors get the attention & exposure Greta has gotten from Ladybird last year and beyond to this year. There have been female directors who hustle & have to take the stairs so to speak while her ‘muse’ status allowed her to take the elevator. W/o Baumbach, she would be hunting for financing, have to fight to even get in thru the door, and would certainly NEVER get the investment in an awards season campaign, let alone for their FIRST feature film (Ladybird was Gerwig’s) It’s sad. Her affair turned relationship w/Baumbach allowed her access to directing & financing that female directors (esp WoC directors) often fight for for YEARS if not decades.
so she’s shrewd and talented- you sound like you resent her ability to get any financing or move up in the directing world.
Greta may be an ass- but hey MOST male directors are –
there aren’t many women-
back in the day it was Kathryn Bigelow-
lets not attribute her success to HIM jeez
What is your source that they hooked up while she was in labour? I googled it the last time it was mentioned on this form but couldn’t find anything.
Let’s see…. narcissistic director ( who is known for making all of his films semi autographic) writes about his divorce while talking about his current relationship that started at the exact same time his wife and creative partner was very pregnant and they broke up.
Nothing to see here folks.
I hope JJL steps up or steps out for a photo somewhere, like today.
This is all a bit childish.
There was a couple, one of them for for someone else while married and visibly tried to contain things during the divorce period from the person whom he no longer loved. Who, by the way, people keep dragging into the conversation as a poor wronged woman and she may not want to be seen that way…
I’m all for pointing out to #metoo predators but this is under the section of facts of life to me, If I was JJL I’d be pissed for people to talk on my behalf.
Actually, for it to happen, you just have to be in a relationship.
Btw, I also tell my husband that if he falls for someone one day and it’s serious enough to leave, we have to talk about it and be the more objective about it as possible. Crossing fingers it doesn’t happen neither to me or him, but any adult knows… And I sure would not want a to stay with me against his will.
I don’t think you usually fall for someone instantly; there are usually steps of intimacy, and this is where willpower and one’s ethics come into play. You can’t help your thoughts, but you don’t have to invite them in for tea. I think if you love your parter, you can resist fooling around, otherwise why make a vow for fidelity?
“You can’t help your thoughts, but you don’t have to invite them in for tea”
I love this
@ SNAZZY-me 2 🤣
Natalie Portman’s character in one of my FAVORITE movie’s “Closer” was MASTERFUL at making the point of when you’re involved in a relationship…and you meet someone that you’re attracted too…there is ALWAYS THAT MOMENT…that moment when you make THAT CHOICE to NOT ACT on those feelings…
Natalie and Clive BOTH earned their Oscar nods for that movie…in fact, I still feel Natalie should have gotten the Oscar for that performance instead of “Black Swan” and Mike Nichols was ROBBED of a nomination for Best Director, in what turned out to be his last major motion picture release….
That was a great film.
Thank you! I always go to the point in the film when people say ” it just happened.” No it doesn’t, it’s a choice. It’s always a choice.
Snow i would assume it depends on what you consider facts of life. Cheating and leaving your pregnant SO for another woman you work with isn’t a fact of life in my world but hey maybe it is for you. No one is putting him on the level of Harvey Weinstein but fair to point out when they try to whitewash the start of their relationship especially when it mirrors work that is currently being considered for a potential Oscar. So are they the most awful people on earth, unfortunately no since there’s some pretty horrible ppl BUT can we side eye and judge, yes, yes we can.
@JB – great points
@Snowslow, I take your point re: JJL. Yes, I think they likely cheated. But why do we keep dragging it up if not for indignation on JJL’s behalf? Does anyone honestly think she wants this the keep being dragged up though?
I had the same thing happen to me minus the Hollywood connection. My then husband cheated on me with a colleague while I was pregnant. I found out when I was 6 months pregnant. The marriage ended soon after .This happened over a decade ago and we’ve both moved on. I have huge regrets I wasn’t the amazing, fun mom I wanted to be in the first 2 yrs of my daughter’s life because at the time, I was just trying to get through each day and put aside the overwhelming sadness and despair. An unfortunate byproduct is the most meaningful event in my life is associated the worst time of my life . If he tried to profit from my pain even now, I would be outraged. Just like JJL, I wouldn’t say anything but I sure would be happy for others to call him out on his incredibly selfish and cruel behaviour.
Snowslow — I think you make some great points. In the abstract, we all think, “I would never fall for someone else while in a committed relationship” but life is messy. Some commenters below are saying it’s a choice to give into feelings, and I actually totally agree with that, but what if they remained professional while these feelings remained for months, years. We just don’t know.
I speak from experience because I love my boyfriend so much, but for a few years there was a guy in our social circle and… i don’t know how to put it. I think we had distracting chemistry, and I think we both felt it and were working through it. There were periods where we kept our distance from each other. There were times when I think we just let ourselves enjoy each other’s company without crossing a line. There were a few moments that came up to the line. Though we never explicitly talked about it (because that would have felt like crossing the line), I really believe that he felt it too but didn’t want to hurt my boyfriend or hurt me by ruining the life I had made. Then he moved away for work and the situation resolved itself.
But after that I started to see this kind of situation differently. Yes, obviously there are a lot of careless, selfish cheaters in the world, maybe that’s Noah and Greta. But there are definitely people who mean well and are torn. Towards that end of that three years, I started to feel like denying my feelings was more and more self-destructive, like I would feel sick after seeing this person. I couldn’t get rid of the feelings. It almost felt like the struggle some of my LGBT friends describe of trying to suppress this knowledge about yourself (no insensitivity to the difficulty of that struggle, I know it’s not the same, just drawing a comparison). At the same time, I really loved my bf too and it didn’t feel right to end things with him, and to a lesser extent, I was afraid of the social backlash if that had happened. It was so complicated. I’m sure fame, wealth and power accelerate and amplify this kind of dynamic in a crazy way.
All that is to say, I continued to make the “choice” not to cross the line with this guy, but towards the end, I started to wonder if my emotional responsibility to my relationship was affecting my responsibility to myself. And yes, maybe the fact that children were involved tips the scale towards Noah being a douche. But even with a child, I believe these things can be very very complicated and moralizing about it makes a lot of assumptions.
I totally agree with this take. I think things happen and life is messy. All we know aside from rumours is that Baumbach and Gerwig are together and the timing may have been suss and he and Jennifer Jason Leigh have a civil/good relationship for their kid.
I will say, however, that I loved Marriage Story(which I think would have also been a great play) but I wish Noah had involved a co-writer to give more depth to Nicole’s perspective. I mean, he tried but definitely sympathized more with Charlie which I get happening with the character is an avatar of yourself.
“Who, by the way, people keep dragging into the conversation as a poor wronged woman and she may not want to be seen that way…”
This is whats getting me too. Like, everyone keeps wanting to bring up JJL and has anyone thought that maybe she WANTS to be left out of the conversation?
A Hollywood trade is — full stop — never going to use a glossy awards season feature to probe anyone’s personal life.
Nor should it.
Apparently I’m in the minority here but…I feel like the tone of the whole piece is aggressively trying to make a mountain out of a molehill. They don’t appear like a couple who get papped every five seconds or otherwise speak about their relationship, let alone their old relationships much. So why do they need to answer the questions and why does the interviewer make such a big deal out of them NOT answering personal questions?
And I think basically asking if Baumback cheated on his wife with his current girlfriend while she is sitting right there is deeply personal. Especially when everyone involved has children.
Look, the situation might have been sketchy but clearly everyone involved dealt with it privately. Asking if Marriage Story is an autobiographical film is a legit question. But he answered the question on that and said he didn’t. I’m a bit skeeved out by this kind of character assassination hit piece.
I agree. No one knows what really happened and it’s no one’s business, either. It’s overstepping to say they’re wrong for not wanting to discuss a private matter.
I agree too. And comparing this to #metoo allegations and Casey Affleck’s Best Actor win is gross. It’s possible they had an affair but that’s not comparable to sexual assault! Besides, we don’t know what happened and it’s no-one’s business, as you say. Why do some people feel the need to insist our artists are paragons of society? True, I can no longer watch Woody Allen films, but that’s a personal choice (and his alleged misdeeds are criminal). Suggesting we shouldn’t watch someone’s film or they shouldn’t win awards because they may or may not have cheated on a partner some time ago is… bonkers. So judgmental.
Sexual harassment and affairs are both wrong but that does not stop Hollywood from showering their people with awards. That one is more serious was not my point.
You’re clearly targeting my comments here and going batshit over my comments on this couple. I love this website but the pearl-clutching , bandwagon-jumping posters here can be sooo tiresome.
This is funny cos I consider comments like YOURS batshit and the general attitude on here towards people having affairs (that are actually none of our business) pearl-clutching!! But I didn’t mean to target you, just used it as an example. Sorry if that didn’t come across
I agree with you SO hard on the pearl-clutchery of marriages ending on here. It’s as if only the act of falling out of love with your partner and meeting someone else a crime sometimes. I absolutely consider this facts of life too. And of course being cheated on is awful and devastating. But it’s a deeply personal experience.
Reading the comments it sometimes feels like everyone projects waaay too hard. It’s not actually your signifcant other and maybe everyone involved with the situation behaved like adults, got over the hurt feelings and decided to move on maturely for the sake of all the children involved.
Shocking, I know, but it’s possible.
I agree, Lady, there is NO comparison to Casey Affleck. And if Hollywood withheld awards from people who had affairs…well, there wouldn’t be many awards given out.
The start of their relationship does sound sketchy, and it makes me side eye them, but if they don’t want to talk about it, and JLL doesn’t want to talk about it, then it’s their choice to keep it private.
As per my point above, I also agree.
This is not a case of domestic violence so we should not be concerned about it.
Yes, I’ve said this before, but people here are acting more offended than JJL herself, these are real people with real problems, I hope that at my workplace they are not judging me by my personal life 🤷♀️.
I always thought the relationship overlap was an open secret. As a total aside, I used to babysit for photographer Gregory Crewdson and one day Baumbach was at the house when I got there. I fan girled pretty hard in my mind but kept it together in person.
I have no idea if he’s a narcissist or a bad husband or what, but his movies always speak to the semi depressed, neurotic, aimless, intellectual (privileged) life that I and many of my friends relate to. The Squid and the Whale is still one of my favorite films.
I can’t stop noticing how Greta is starting to look more and more like JLL. Some may say it is karma but I will still feel sorry for her when he trades her in for a younger version in a few years.
The darning socks thing I don’t think is unrelated, SJO’s character Nicole uses her husbands ability to darn socks as one of the things she loves about him in a list they write for a mediator.
I think it’s a sloppy, ham-fisted way to try to say “Look it’s not about him!! He can’t darn socks but the character can!!!”
Does darn mean to wear socks?
Darning is how you fix holes in socks 🙂
It means to repair the holes in them.
They come across as a boring hipster couple to me (sorry). I think maybe THR was trying to make something appear exciting/salacious here.
He looks both 90 and 40 at the same time.
All I know is, if they are both nominated and she wins, I don’t think they’ll remain a couple.
That part.
Here’s the thing…
Real life is messy AF…I was a fan of Baumbach before this…Gerta, I’ve seen all of her performances in other movies along with “Frances Ha”..”Lady Bird” .and I’m still like…
“Okayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy…”
However, regarding JJL and this whole thang…welp, as I stated above….Real life is messy…and if she didn’t say anything about it beforehand…I’m gonna ride with that…
Real life is messy. I don’t they owe us an explanation. Further, if their start included some overlap, that, to me, feels like a question Baumbach should be confronted with rather than Gerwig. He was the one who was married, not her.
On a gossip level, I love that they were asked this question BUT why would it hurt their chances of an Oscar? What does an affair have to do with the quality of their films? I don’t get why Oscar campaigns include being a good husband and father or likability. Why do actors need to “campaign?” I don’t think people who have taken part in criminal behaviour (sexual assault) should receive Oscars but the line needs to be drawn somewhere between the personal and professional. Isn’t the Oscars for their professional performance?
They say people who cheat with you will cheat on you so good luck Greta! Not gonna lie its kinda satisfying to see adulterers mess up like this in public. I remember when Ana Faris was asked how Chris Evans/Jenny Slate relationship began, she said a week after her podcast was recorded Evans texted her about going on a date with Jenny (who was very married and attending public events with her husband that time. Oops.) Then Jenny tried to cover it up in her next interview by saying her and Evans only went out after she filed for divorce. LOL that was a mess. Evans of course never had the balls to take that question. Actually that’s when he started hiding behind his dog LOL
Except Anna Farris was married to Chris Pratt, so this didn’t happen.
Maybe Ana and Chris Evans are friends? I don’t think this has anything to do with Chris Pratt. This is just my interpretation of what A wrote.
@Paleokifaru I don’t know what Chris Pratt being married to Anna Farris has to do with my comment. Maybe you forgot that Captain Homewrecker and Lena Dunham Jr. made their official debut on Anna’s podcast to discuss “platonic male/female friendships” (ngl sometimes I honestly think these two are sociopaths) Anyway here’s the orignal Ana quote from her Vogue interview done in 2016. You’re welcome 🙂
“I got a text from him like a week and a half or two weeks later and it said, “Jenny and I are thinking about maybe going out on a date or whatever.”
I just don’t like them. It has nothing to do with the possible cheating, it’s Hollywood after all. But my God they both come across as if they take themselves so seriously and believe their own hype. Their films are the cinematic epitome of navel gazing and that just doesn’t speak to me at all. I obviously haven’t seen all their movies but they also seem the opposite of diverse.
JJL is too classy to say anything publicly.
It’s notable that the current wiki page for Greenberg has this as it’s secondary text.
“ Although the film received positive reviews, it was a box office bomb, grossing $7 million against a $25 million budget. The film is notable for the off-camera extramarital affair between Baumbach and Gerwig, which led to his divorce from Leigh”
I love both directors but its hardly shocking that there is some pushback likely from JJL’s camp and friends on accolades for a movie that no question must feel like a rub in her face.
I just want to do a quick callback to all of the people who were insisting that people only read Fleabag as autobiographical because Phoebe Waller-Bridge is a woman and we would never treat a MAN(!) the same way.
Greta May have written the screenplay for Little Women — as Emma Thompson did for her film Sense & Sensibility — but Louisa May Alcott wrote “it.” If Greta is nominated and wins awards for best Adapted screenplay I wonder if she will thank Author as Emma thanked Jane Austen in Emma’s brilliant Oscar acceptance speech?
I’m sure she probably would. She’s talked a lot about Louisa May Alcott in her interviews. Do you feel like she’s claiming that she wrote Little Women?
Who cares. Seriously…forget regular people for a minute, I’m sure affairs in Hollywood happen ALL the time (if that’s even what happened here). Baumbach said in an interview that he had JJL read the Marriage Story script before filming, so I’m gonna assume their relationship is fine. Brad and Angelina clearly had an affair of some sort on a film set while he was still married. As have many others in Hollywood.
If you want to come after Gerwig for something: there’s a fantastic early-2000’s movie called Real Women Have Curves. Gerwig CLEARLY took major elements from that movie for her film Lady Bird. Like, there are some almost-exact scenes and themes. And she wasn’t asked about it on the press/awards circuit. So, I think we should watch her work more closely going forward.
I feel weird about Stiller being questioned on this. He is a coworker.
Look, maybe there are exceptions but every company I ever worked for frowns on inner-office relationships. It happens, it can get messy and above all, the drama hurts the workplace. In every instance (where it has happened, in my experience as a coworker) it hurt business, deadlines and morale. It also is unprofessional and rarely has positive impact.
So yeah, please kindly keep coworkers out of it. In the instances where I saw it, tried desperately not to be involved and to look the other way to be spared anything that might threaten my job or productivity.
Did the interviewer honestly think he’d be like, “Oh yeah, they were totally going at it in the trailer between takes. I saw it all!!!!!!’
What does “how the met” have to do with their work? This is no one’s business but theirs and Iif I were Jennifer Jason Leigh, I’d want people to mind their business, leave well enough alone and not conjure up outrage over something, if true, I’ve moved on from already. Stay out of it.
I really don’t see his appeal…
Maybe she changed the subject because it’s frankly none of anyone’s business. Life is exceptionally messy and there are times when yeah, people fall for someone else other than their current partner. I understand why people find that information upsetting, but I find the handwringing and moralizing around it equally off-putting.
Agree with you.
He wrote/directed a semi-autobiographical film about his divorce and is actively promoting it. OF COURSE all of this was going to come up, he knew it, and did it anyway. He’s a mildly talented, badly aging, narc.
Look, when it comes to affairs, if we like the new couple, it becomes “none of our business if they cheated”. If we don’t like the new couple it becomes “I can’t stand cheaters…my ex cheated on me this same way..”.
However, if you write a movie that is semi-autobiographical about your marriage/divorce and are being interviewed about that movie alone with the new partner you left your old partner for, you should be ready to answer questions about the personal nature/events of your story. To be honest, it’s weird to me to write this type of movie when your ex is also famous and still alive. Did he have JJL’s permission???
@original TC
Shhhh don’t point out the logic to the commenters.
Sidenote: as an asexual the things women on here have written about projection are hilarious. Esp since I’m guessing most of these posters have done exactly what they’re lowkey defending w/intentionally vague commentary like “life is messy” – If you fall for someone else while w/someone, have the balls to tell them & leave. Is it really that complicated? Oh as for the whole ‘onus is on the married person’ – LMAO, it takes two to tango. Ultimately it comes down to what ppl not having the courage to say they’re unhappy & break up. It simple yet ppl will come up with books of excuses.
Speaking of projecting… Pot to the kettle ladies and gentleman!
He looks embalmed in the thumbnail and much younger in pics on this page. Maybe one is his wax figure.
This this this. And Baumbach’s response about David Lynch is such a cop out…David Lynch didn’t write and direct a film where the main character is also a director, divorced from an actress with whom he shares a son, and who cheated on the actress with someone from work…I mean, hello. When art imitates life, what are people supposed to ask about in an interview? Don’t want people to ask about your love life, maybe don’t write a film about it?
They spilt ten years ago. Seriously why bring it up and drag it out…. also enough with the Jen-brad stories- it’s all boring history .,.
“…A David Lynch movie is the most personal filmmaking I could ever imagine. But nobody asks him if those things actually happened to him. It’s all him. It’s all his expression.”
As far as I know, David Lynch hasn’t made a movie about something that PUBLICLY happened in his personal life, then tried to pretend that it didn’t happen.
I think JJL isn’t responding to this crap because of her son. She cares more about how he would feel if she responded to the lies than putting these two a-holes in their place.
I wonder if Blake was Ryan’s mistress? ScarJo is playing the wife. Hmmm.