Noah Baumbach’s critically acclaimed film Marriage Story has found an unexpected new audience: grey wolves. According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, audio of a volatile argument between the film’s lead characters, played by Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver, is being used to protect livestock in Oregon.
The 2019 drama, which earned six Oscar nominations and a win for Laura Dern, was praised for its raw depiction of a couple’s bitter divorce and custody battle. Now, the intensity of its performances is being deployed as a non-lethal deterrent in a practice known as “wolf hazing.”
Teams from the US Department of Agriculture use drones equipped with thermal cameras to locate wolves near livestock. Once a predator is identified, it is targeted with spotlights and sound from a loudspeaker. A district supervisor in Oregon told the WSJ the goal is to make the wolves understand that “humans are bad.” The audio clips used include the couple’s argument from the film alongside other jarring sounds like fireworks, gunshots, and AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck.”
This method is employed as an alternative to culling because grey wolves are protected under the federal government’s endangered species list. The practice has proven highly effective. In the Klamath Basin of southern Oregon, where 11 cows were killed by wolves over a 20-day period, the implementation of drone patrols led to only two livestock deaths over the subsequent 85 days. The film’s central, rage-filled confrontation, once praised by critics for its “lucid and intelligent” theatricality, is now serving a uniquely practical purpose in wildlife management.
