Paltrow and Baumbach filmed Brian De Palma for one week in 2010, collecting about 30 hours worth of interview footage. De Palma, sitting in Paltrow's living room and talking about his career, wore the same shirt every day for continuity's sake. But the movie ended up premiering in 2015 and the director made another movie years after the interview, which explains why when he talks about Passion the viewer only hears his voice but doesn't see him talking.
Brian De Palma on this documentary: "I met Noah [Noah Baumbach] almost 20 years ago - I immediately liked him, he's very bright. Because we approach cinema from different directions, we were fascinated by our different views on how to tell a story. They did their interview with me five years ago, in Jake Paltrow's living room, shooting on this digital camera, with Noah doing the sound. It was like the old cinema school days - you had three people and that was your crew." [2015]
Brian De Palma on why he agreed to appear in the film: "As you know, film journalism is mostly spin. You talk to people, they say the experience was great, I love working with so and so, it's the best experience I ever had. And not until you're in the Hollywood old-age home do you have anybody tell you the truth." [2016]
Brian De Palma said, that initially there was no plan for a documentary feature, only an interview: "Noah and Jake were interested in this new digital camera, so Jake bought one. They wanted to make a record of all these stories that I'd told them over the years when we'd had dinner together, so they sat me down in Jake's living room. Jake operated the camera, Noah did the sound, and they would just ask me questions." [2016]
Martin Scorsese introduced De Palma (2015) at the DGA theater screening in New York. Scorsese and De Palma have been friends ever since they met at NYU in the late 60s.