LITTLE WOMEN Helmer Greta Gerwig Owns Her Story, 2 Golden Globe Noms

by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent

No, Greta Gerwig didn’t get nominated for director or screenplay, but she is in the running with her adaptation of LITTLE WOMEN, which scored two Golden Globe nominations today. The SONY Pictures film was nominated for Best Actress, and Best Score.

To recap, Greta kind of burst onto the scene with LADY BIRD, after a rocky acting start with the remake of ARTHUR, on the heels of starrer success FRANCES HA.

Her efforts as a writer-director of the current remake of Louisa May Alcott’s LITTLE WOMEN might be deemed a little bittersweet with Golden Globe nominations for Saorise Ronan and Alexandre Desplat.

Gerwig made this film with a greenlight from producers Amy Pascal, Denise Di Novi and Robin Swicord (who wrote an earlier adaptation).

The ensemble is topped by Saoirse Ronan, and Emma Watson, Eliza Scanlen, Florence Pugh, with Laura Dern and Meryl Streep.

Lady Bird’s helmer said she researched the real Alcott, who wrote, “I had lots of troubles, so I write jolly tales”; and notes that in the film, Marmee says, “I’m angry nearly every day of my life.”

Here she is in her own words about the (re)making of this enduring classic story of four sisters and their mother, as they try to find their place in a mostly unforgiving man’s world.

GRETA GERWIG BREAKS DOWN HER “LITTLE WOMEN”

“I flung myself at it with everything I had,” says Gerwig. “I had a very specific idea of what it was about: it’s about women as artists and it’s about women and money. That is all there in the text, but it’s an aspect of the story that hasn’t been delved into before. For me, it was something that felt really, really close to the surface and even now, this movie feels more autobiographical than anything I’ve made.”

“These are things that are still coming up right now,” observes Gerwig, “which you see in Taylor Swift deciding to re-record her back catalogue so that she can own it. 'Little Women' has been part of who I am for as long as I can remember. There was never a time when I didn’t know who Jo March was, and she was always my girl, the person I wanted to be and the person who I hoped I was.”

“Every time I read the book, it became something different,” notes Gerwig. “I first knew it in the coziness of childhood, and then as I got older, new parts of it jumped out at me. As I began writing the screenplay, the part of it that was in clear relief was how the sisters’ lives as adults are so poignant and fascinating, because they’re trying to figure out how to honor the fearless youth they had as grown-ups.”

GOLDEN GLOBE SAORISE RONAN ADDS SOME PERSPECTIVE

“I think the story feels more relevant than ever right now,” says Ronan, who plays Jo, “because it explores young women finding the confidence to take their own paths. It also is a story that changes depending on where you are in life. You could be an Amy for a few years, then suddenly you’re a Jo, then a Meg, then you’re a Marmee and maybe back to a Beth. You can find yourself in each one.”

CAPPED OFF BY LAURA DERN…

“It’s a story about identity and there’s nothing more modern than that,” adds Dern, who plays Marmee. “We still struggle today with how to ask, ‘who am I, and how, despite everyone else’s opinion, am I going to stand true to that in my life?’—yet that’s what Louisa May Alcott wrote about 150 years ago. Part of the beauty of what Alcott did is that she established strength as independence, as art, as ambition but also as marriage and parenting, and Greta invites the audience to engage with all of that.”

LITTLE WOMEN will be released Dec. 25, by SONY. Here’s the official description:

FROM SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT on LITTLE WOMEN

Writer-director Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird) has crafted a Little Women that draws on both the classic novel and the writings of Louisa May Alcott, and unfolds as the author’s alter ego, Jo March, reflects back and forth on her fictional life. In Gerwig’s take, the beloved story of the March sisters – four young women each determined to live life on her own terms -- is both timeless and timely. Portraying Jo, Meg, Amy, and Beth March, the film stars Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, with Timothée Chalamet as their neighbor Laurie, Laura Dern as Marmee, and Meryl Streep as Aunt March.

Adapted for Screen and Directed by: Greta Gerwig

Based on the Novel by: Louisa May Alcott Produced by: Amy Pascal, Denise Di Novi, Robin Swicord

Executive Producers: Adam Merims, Evelyn O'Neill, Rachel O'Connor, Arnon Milchan

Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, Laura Dern, Timothée Chalamet, Tracy Letts, Bob Odenkirk, James Norton, Louis Garrel, with Chris Cooper and Meryl Streep

#LittleWomenMovie https://www.littlewomen.movie/

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