Hollywood pitch meetings, involving the director and star potential, are usually held in the best restaurants.
It is a time to impress. The director wishes to woo the star.
The star, if interested in the project, is ready to build an Oscar-worthy performance over salad and mineral water to win over the director.
When Noah Baumbach, the 38-year-old Brooklyn-born writer-director Nicole Kidman met to discuss his new drama, Margot marriage, the place was not the Waldorf-Astoria, or The Mercer Hotel.
"It was a funny place," Baumbach with a laugh during an interview with AAP, ironically, in a penthouse suite in the Waldorf-Astoria.
"They have no servers at this location, so we had to go up to the counter to order."
The place was a dodgy coffee shop in Manhattan's Chelsea district.
"It was funny, because I suppose it took over the place and she assumed I picked it," Baumbach, always laughing, said.
"But we found out later a staff assistant picked.
"It was not a place where I thought," Now, where do I meet Nicole Kidman? "
Coffee, not as dour as it was, proved to be the ideal location.
Few customers, they took a table at the rear and are not bothered by autograph hunters. A troupe of paparazzi will not wait outside for them to leave.
"There were so few customers," said Baumbach.
"It actually proved to be ideal in this way because it was quiet and there was nobody gawking."
Baumbach did not have much to offer other than Nicole Kidman copy of the Marriage Margot to writing.
The script was followed by his Squid and the Whale, another small budget set in New York drama that earned him an Oscar nomination original screenplay in 2005.
Baumbach had surrounded Nicole Kidman as his choice to play Margot, a razor-tongued, New York interference
Author in the midst of a nervous breakdown.
Baumbach's wife, Jennifer Jason Leigh, was cast to play the young Margot, the sister of ambition set to marry an unemployed artist, played by Jack Black.
The total budget for the film was about $ US10 million ($ A11.16 million), about half the $ US17 million (A18.98 million) was paid for starring Kidman last year of science fiction box-office disaster, The Invasion.
Baumbach knew walking in the Cafeteria Nicole Kidman will be a fraction of his usual fee, if she accepted the role.
Time is also a problem.
Nicole Kidman has pledged to make the epic Baz Luhrmann, Australia and fantasy film, The Golden Compass, and if it does sign up for his small theater, it will be stuck in her schedule.
What will Baumbach had done for him was to resume Interestingly, the independent film he had written and directed the most successful Squid and the Whale.
They chatted for an hour over coffee, Baumbach Kidman gave a copy of the script, and they parted ways.
Baumbach was shocked when he received a call the next day.
"The next morning, she said: 'If you can adapt it to my schedule I would love to do it,'" recalled Baumbach.
"We meant the shooting of the film sooner than we anticipated, which was great because it established an energy, which we believe 'OK, let's put this together'.
Nicole Kidman has a history of making low-budget, the passion between projects of US $ 200 million more than the Hollywood film studio pay him $ US17 million.
In the afternoon, after leaving the cafe, she sat down and read the script Margot to marry.
Malfunctions, often offensive, the relationship between Margot and her sister, Pauline, is what caught Nicole Kidman.
He was opposed to the relationship Kidman shares with her sister, Antonia.
Nicole Kidman, 40, said that if it was not for Antonia, it probably would not have survived her marriage breakdown with first husband, Tom Cruise. As she prepares to give birth to her first child with a new husband, country music star Keith Urban, Antonia who was at his side.
He was helped Antonia Kidman, who through his recent marriage break-up with her husband, Angus Hawley.
"I would say that our relationship twin-like," says Nicole Kidman.
"So the combativeness of this relationship brother and Margot marriage is what really interests me.
It is exciting when you have that expectation, because you are the family that you should do the same.
"I think there are a lot of people who say" I do not get with my family and I should and I try, but simply because we have the same blood running through us does not mean that we are necessarily the right chemistry together ".
"It's fascinating to me.
"I like to be part of the narrative that explores human psychology."
The film takes place on the eve of the wedding of Pauline.
Margot arrives with her young son, Claude.
"I think she had a breakdown," said Nicole Kidman, explaining the behavior of its confrontational character.
"I think it is in crisis and there is the means by which it cope with that.
"The way she acts and acting is quite an indicator of the overall domestic unrest.
"I think that is wonderful Noah's writing is that it is badly funny.
"It is disturbing parts dealing with family life, and it is able to provide humour.
"I have always been attracted to things like that.
"I made a film called To Die For, which is responsible for some rather grim topic.
"I think Noah has similar attributes that (To Die For screenwriter) Buck Henry."
The film was shot at a large house on the beach in Long Island New York.
Baumbach and repeated melting at home for two weeks. It was in this period Nicole Kidman crawled into the skin of Margot.
A dialogue has helped his coach with the New York accent and costume designer Ann Roth, who has worked withNicole Kidman on Cold Mountain and The Hours, found material objects that have helped become the complex Nicole Kidman Margot.
"She is capable of finding pieces of clothing and helps with the walking," says Nicole Kidman.
"She gave me a pair of socks and woolly cardigan and that I could slop around these rehearsals, when we were somehow triggered and the feeling of the whole movie for me.
"The mere fact of being able to move in socks without shoes in the house, gave a very casual feel.
"And the glasses.
"When she showed them to me, I grabbed her and said" perfect "."
