Joe Swanberg

01 / The Detroit story

The Detroit story

Joe Swanberg was born in Detroit but grew up on the move, living in Georgia, California, the Marshall Islands and Alabama before finishing high school in Naperville, near Chicago. He studied film at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, graduating in 2003, and made Chicago his base. Working with tiny budgets, small crews and a great deal of improvisation, he became one of the central figures of the mumblecore movement, with films about relationships, sex, technology and filmmaking itself. Hannah Takes the Stairs (2007) was an early collaboration with Greta Gerwig, and Drinking Buddies (2013), set in a Chicago brewery with Olivia Wilde and Jake Johnson, brought him a wider audience. He created, wrote and directed the Netflix anthology series Easy (2016–2019). His Detroit connection is his birth.

Highlights

1. Central figure of the mumblecore movement
2. Hannah Takes the Stairs (2007), with Greta Gerwig
3. Drinking Buddies (2013) with Olivia Wilde and Jake Johnson
4. Created the Netflix anthology series Easy (2016–2019)