CULTURE

Greta Gerwig Could Make Little Women With Meryl Streep, Emma Stone, Timothee Chalamet and Saoirse Ronan

And the cast would be star-studded.

June 29, 2018

Greta Gerwig Planning on Directing 'Little Women' lead

Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/Getty Images

Greta Gerwig‘s next project is on track to be a big one. The 34-year-old writer, director, and actor made history last year when she became only the fifth woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for best director for Lady Bird, and the distinction looks like it could land her another major directing role: Columbia Pictures’ remake of the classic Little Women with a star-studded cast.

Gerwig joined Little Women in 2016 to do a rewrite of the draft, but Variety reported that Sony was evidently so impressed by her directorial debut with Lady Bird that it’s trying to win her over to make Little Women her next project, even ramping up pre-production to compel her to take the lead on the film.

Several major talents are said to be in talks to join the cast of the retelling, including Meryl Streep, Emma Stone, Saoirse Ronan, and Timothée Chalamet. If everything falls into place, this would mark a reunion for Ronan and Chalamet, who both starred in Gerwig’s Lady Bird.

The combination of the A-list talent combined with the much beloved classic American story of Meg, Beth, Jo, and Amy are likely to make this a tentpole awards season film for Sony. The novel by Louisa May Alcott following four sisters in post-Civil War America has been adapted a number of times, with the 1994 adaptation starring Winona Ryder being the most notable.

A lot has to happen before more details of the cast and director are confirmed, but it does look like convenient timing for all. Streep will wrap on HBO’s Big Little Lies soon; Stone’s next big role in The Favourite will hit theaters in November; Ronan recently finished production in Mary Queen of Scots; and Chalamet recently began filming his next project, Netflix’s The King.

Apparently no one is deterred by the fact that the story has other recent remakes. A PBS miniseries debuted earlier this year, a Christian-themed movie version is coming later this year, and ABC is reportedly mulling a project that would put the girls in modern times. Still, with a cast like this, why worry about competition?