Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach Are “Indebted” To Mariska Hargitay For This Hilarious Reason

Whatever works, right?

On Thursday, director couple Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach stopped by The Late Late Show, where the Little Women director admitted that Mariska Hargitay played an unexpected role in helping her through her pregnancy with their 10-month-old son Harold, who they welcomed last year.

While discussing how she balanced being pregnant and becoming a new mom while working on the Oscar-nominated film, Greta revealed that she’d channel the Law & Order: SVU star to stay zen throughout the filming and editing processes.

“I was doing these guided meditations,” she told host James Corden. “And they always say, like, ‘Imagine something really comforting,’ or whatever. And I think you’re supposed to imagine a beach, but I’d always imagine Mariska Hargitay’s face. Because I find her so comforting. So, she’s very much a part of my baby’s life without knowing it.”

She added, “And I think that’s why my baby is so happy…Because she’s very strong and compassionate and non-judgmental, like, I feel that my baby felt her love.”

Chiming in, Noah joked he hadn’t realized that Mariska had been such an influence on their son’s temperament. “It did work, he’s a terrific baby,” the Marriage Story director said. “I now feel very indebted to her.”

As her story continued, she admitted that there were times where being a filmmaker and an expectant mom was hard to juggle.

“I was in Massachusetts and I was filming and I was going to…the doctor there,” Greta recalled. “And they were like, ‘The machine, the sonogram machine is only available on Wednesdays.’ And I was like, ‘I can’t do that, I have to make a movie.'”

“And they got really mad at me and they were like, ‘You have to come and look at this baby,” she said. “And I was like, ‘I have to make Little Women!’ And they were like, ‘No you have to make this little man.'”

Switching gears, the late night host couldn’t help but ask the longtime loves if their relationship had changed after both of their movies earned a 2020 Oscar nomination for Best Picture. They’re also up against each other for Best Original Score and Best Original Screenplay.

After explaining that they decided to have a quiet morning together “not looking at anything” as the nominations were being announced, the couple admitted that they didn’t have a game plan set if one of them earned more noms than the other. As fate would have it, they both secured six nominations.

Recalling the moments before finding out, Greta said, “I saw your phone kept lighting up and I was like, ‘Well, he’s good news at least.'” But ultimately, they agreed that their family—or as Noah put it, the baby’s laugh—is all that really mattered in the end.

She added, “He kept saying, ‘Babe, it’s just about the baby’s laugh. It doesn’t matter what happens today.'”

See which other filmmakers earned a 2020 Oscar nomination here.