BABIES

Even the Cast of Little Women Didn’t Know Greta Gerwig Was Pregnant

She went into labor 24 hours after delivering the film’s rough cut.

Oct. 31, 2019

Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin

Its release date might be two full months away, but anticipation is quickly mounting for Greta Gerwig‘s upcoming adaptation of Little Women. And no wonder—Meryl Streep, Emma Watson, Laura Dern, Saoirse Ronan, and Timothée Chalamet are just a few members of the star-studded cast. After an early round of rave reviews from critics, Gerwig took a trip to the Met with the New York Times to admire some oil paintings and build up more hype for the film. One revelation: she came to helm the project after an admirably self-confident meeting with the producer Amy Pascal. “I guess I went in and told her that I was the only person to make the movie,” Gerwig said, “and that I thought it was about art and women and money.”

Gerwig also shared a few other tidbits—like the fact that her dog is named Wizard—over the course of the afternoon. Surprisingly, the topic of another of her anecdotes was her recent pregnancy, which the 36-year-old actor and director has so far refrained from discussing in the press. The world didn’t even learn that she was pregnant, let alone had had a baby this spring, until she and her partner (and frequent collaborator), the director Noah Baumbach, were spotted walking around New York City with a stroller. Even the cast and crew of Little Women, Gerwig told the Times, had no idea that she was expecting. That’s some pretty impressive stealth, considering she was six months along by the time filming wrapped last December.

“I didn’t really intend for it to be that way,” Gerwig said. “It’s just that at the beginning, you don’t tell anyone. And then at some point, I realized, ‘Well, maybe I’ll just make it to the end, and no one will know.’ And then I did.” Right up until the end—she went into labor 24 hours after delivering her rough cut to the studio. “The baby was like, ‘All right, let’s do this,'” Gerwig said.

On the topic of marriage, though, Gerwig was less forthcoming. While on a walk with Wizard one day, speaking on the phone with the reporter, she denied that she and Baumbach are married. But she did concede that, as the reporter had noticed, she’s been wearing a ring on her ring finger. “Yeah, that’s a—that’s true, but—yes—no, but I’m not married,” she said. “Yet.”