The idea that became Marriage Story came to writer-director Noah Baumbach in 2016, while he was in post-production for his first Netflix film, The Meyerowitz Stories. Baumbach already had existing connections to the material and to divorce in general from his parents' divorce when he was a kid and from his own divorce to actor Jennifer Jason Leigh in 2013, with whom he shares a child. Regardless, Baumbach began to research divorce and how it affects the families (but particularly the kids) involved in it.
Speaking about his connection to the subject matter, Baumbach wrote that "I have a real connection to the material," but that "I was also at a time in my life where many of my friends were getting divorced. I saw it as an opportunity to do something more expansive, so I did a lot of research. I interviewed a lot of my friends, and friends of friends, and then also lawyers, judges, mediators."
Baumbach then began to reach out to a number of his frequent collaborators, including Adam Driver, who quickly agreed to do the film. He then reached out to Scarlett Johansson, who was incidentally going through her second divorce when he spoke with her.
