The Squid and the Whale
A young boy in 1980s Brooklyn navigates the chaos of his parents' divorce, clinging to the wisdom of his intellectual father while trying to survive their bitter, public unraveling.
“Joint custody blows.”
Synopsis
Based on the true childhood experiences of Noah Baumbach and his brother, *The Squid and the Whale* tells the story of two young boys dealing with their parents' divorce.
Credits
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How many hands made this film
The scale of the collaboration
A crew of 53+ credited
Why a floor?
This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.
Craft leads on file
Edited by Tim StreetoShot by Robert D YeomanScored by Britta PhillipsDesigned by Anne Ross
Box Office
2005 · Box office
💰 Box-office hit — grossed 7.4× its budget
Why 2.5×?
Cinemas keep roughly half of every ticket sold, and a wide release’s marketing often costs about as much again as the film — so a movie needs to gross around 2.5× its production budget just to break even theatrically. It’s a rule of thumb, not the studio’s ledger (home video and streaming come later).
Worldwide gross
$11.1M
Opening week (7-day): $25K
Peak 2 theaters
Also known as
- Der Tintenfisch und der Walde
- Les Berkman se séparentfr
- Il calamaro e la balenait
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Cast & Crew
53 unique people credited
Top billed cast
Owen Kline
as Frank Berkman
Jeff Daniels
as Bernard Berkman
Laura Linney
as Joan Berkman
Jesse Eisenberg
as Walt Berkman
William Baldwin
as Ivan
David Benger
as Carl
Halley Feiffer
as Sophie Greenberg
Anna Paquin
as Lili
Molly Barton
as Graduate Student
Bo Berkman
as Graduate Student
Matthew Kaplan
as Graduate Student
Simon Kaplan
as Graduate Student
Supporting cast
33Matthew Kirsch
as Graduate Student
Daniella Markowicz
as Graduate Student
Elizabeth Meriwether
as Graduate Student
Ben Schrank
as Graduate Student
Amy Srebnick
as Graduate Student
Josh Srebnick
as Graduate Student
Emma Straub
as Graduate Student
Alan Wilkis
as Graduate Student
James Hamilton
as Man with Joan
Adam Rose
as Otto
Henry Glovinsky
as Lance
Eli Gelb
as Jeffrey
Wayne Lawson
as Talent Show Judge
Michael Santiago
as Talent Show Judge
Juan Torriente
as Talent Show Judge
Patricia Towers
as Talent Show Judge
Peggy Gormley
as Mrs. Greenberg
Peter Newman
as Mr. Greenberg
Greta Kline
as Greta Greenberg
Melissa Meyer
as Professor
Benjamin Smolen
as Student with Puppets
Michael Countryman
as Mr. Simic
Alexandra Daddario
as Pretty Girl
Nico Baumbach
as Jeb Gelber
Maryann Plunkett
as Ms. Lemon
Hector Otero
as Hector
Ken Leung
as School Therapist
Jo Yang
as Nurse
Jonathan Baumbach
as Man Outside Ms. Lemon's Office (uncredited)
Andrew Kaempfer
as Valet (uncredited)
Britta Phillips
as Talent Show Audience Member (uncredited)
Bobby Shue
as Student (uncredited)
Dean Wareham
as Talent Show Audience Member (uncredited)
Directors
1Writers
1Producers
4Other crew
6Parents Guide
AI Personalities
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Live · bot-verified- NetflixStream
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