Reboots are a dime a dozen these days, but it’s rare that an Oscar-nominated director to reboot a beloved but older franchise. But here we are, telling you that Lady Bird director Greta Gerwig is making a new adaptation of Little Women, the classic novel by Louisa May Alcott.
And she won’t be doing it alone. So far, Lady Bird star Saoirse Ronan, Call Me By Your Name‘s Timothee Chalamet, Emma Stone, and Meryl Streep are all in talks to join the cast. The assumption is that Streep is in talks to play the matriarch of the March family, while Chalamet is in the running for the young and brash Teddy. As for which sisters Stone and Ronan would play, it really is a toss up – though Variety reports that neither of them is Beth.
For those who have never read the book or seen the numerous film, TV, and web series adaptations, Little Women follows the March family, made up of Marmee March (the mother) and four sisters: Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy. They live a pacifist lifestyle during the Civil War, with their pastor father having gone away to act as a chaplain for the Northern army. Love, family, friendship, and more are tested and, honestly, it’s a pretty cute, if a bit moralistic, story.
One has to wonder what Gerwig is going to bring to the table on this one. It’s clear she has a penchant for telling intimate, familial stories, so she’s the perfect fit for this property but will this be the jumping off point for a small franchise of movies? After all, the tales of these sisters does go on for a bit, and what with companies hungry to build cinematic universes of their own, it could be a strong contender for a more developed universe. Still, just as a stand alone film, it’ll be nice to have another version to watch.
