Greta Gerwig Sets Little Women Adaptation With Meryl Streep, Saoirse Ronan
Lady Bird's Greta Gerwig has found her next project. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Oscar-nominee is planning to tackle an adaptation of the Louisa May Alcott novel Little Women, with Meryl Streep, Emma Stone, Saoirse Ronan, and Timothee Chalamet in talks to join the cast.
Little Women follows four sisters — Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy — as they grow from childhood to womanhood in Civil War-era Massachusetts. Streep is in talks to play the family matriarch Marmee, while Stone would play the eldest sister Meg and Ronan would play the protagonist, Jo. Chalamet is in talks to play Laurie Laurence, Jo's love interest. Florence Pugh is also in talks to star, although it's unclear what character she would play.
The movie has been in the works for a long time, with Amy Pascal, Denise Di Novi, and Robin Swicord set to produce. Gerwig was initially brought on to redraft the script, but she has now also stepped into the director's chair. Columbia Pictures reportedly ramped up pre-production for the movie in an effort to bring Gerwig on board after Lady Bird's success, and the movie is said to be on the fast track for production. Sources tell Variety that the studio will be testing for the role of Beth against Stone before July 4th.
Little Women has been adapted for the screen a number of times, most notably into a 1994 film starring Winona Ryder as Jo. The film earned Ryder an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. The book was also recently adapted into a BBC miniseries with Angela Lansbury. Taking on the coming-of-age story should be right in Gerwig's wheelhouse; she earned Oscar nominations for screenwriting and directing for 2017's Lady Bird, which was a box office and critical hit.
Ronan earned her third Oscar nomination for starring as the titular character in Lady Bird. She could next garner awards season attention for starring in the upcoming Mary Queen of Scots. Chalamet also appeared in Lady Bird, but he took home his first Oscar nomination this year for his role in Call Me By Your Name. Chalamet recently finished playing Henry V in the upcoming Netflix film The King.
Streep, meanwhile, is an acting legend, with three Oscar wins and a slew of other nominations to her name. She can next be seen in the second season of HBO's Big Little Lies, as well on the big screen in Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again and Mary Poppins Returns. Stone, yet another Oscar winner, can be seen in the upcoming Netflix series Maniac and the historical drama The Favourite. Pugh's upcoming roles include the Dwayne Johnson-produced Fighting With My Family and the biopic Outlaw King.
Gerwig's Little Women does not have a release date yet.