Saoirse Ronan covers the latest issue of Variety to promote Little Women, which is coming out on Christmas Day. I think that’s a dumb release date, especially given the latest Star War is coming out in the same week. I can see the calculation there: “if the Star War is sold out, maybe people will just buy tickets to Little Women.” But… that probably won’t happen? And people who actually want to see Little Women won’t want to brace the Star Wars crowds just to see Little Women. My point is that LW should be coming up in early December, but no one listens to me. Anyway, this Variety cover story is about the film, with quotes from tons of people, so it’s not just a straight-up interview of Saoirse. I’m actually getting the feeling that Greta Gerwig wishes she could just do all of the magazine interviews about it, but whatever. Here are some highlights:
Saoirse wasn’t scared of playing Jo March: “It was a big step up for me as an actor. Even with something like ‘Lady Bird,’ I was fully terrified every day. I felt, ‘I’m going to ruin this. I’m going to mess it up.’ I really felt that. It was a great experience, but I was constantly on the phone to my mom or my friends saying, ‘I can’t do it.’ It wasn’t like that with ‘Little Women.’”
She was prepared: “I was ready to jump out of line and take it on. Jo is such an important figure for so many girls, and I didn’t feel daunted by it. I was precious with her.”
Greta Gerwig on what women respond to: “At the end of ‘Little Women,’ Jo gets married, has children and gives up writing. In real life, Louisa never got married, never had children and kept the damn copyrights! She made so much money because of it. She supported her entire family, who had always been wretchedly poor. I just kept feeling — this is the thing underneath that all women have been unconsciously responding to.”
Saoirse on how she didn’t do many tween or teen movies: “I think I could see even then, on some subconscious level, that there was more longevity in films that had more grown-ups in them. I was an only child who was around a lot of adults my whole life, and that becomes your safety.”
Working with women directors: “I’ve worked with some female directors who are quite masculine in the ways they oversee their sets. I’ve worked with some who are very quiet, and I’ve also worked with men who are really emotional and really sensitive. They all handle their authority in different ways.”
In Saoirse’s telling of how she got the role of Jo March, she says she told Greta that she wanted it and Greta made her wait a week. But Greta said that they were pretty much a package deal for the studio, that Greta would get to make Little Women because Saoirse wanted to play Jo. Everyone yells at me because I keep saying that I have concerns about all of this, but… I still have concerns. None of my concerns are about Saoirse though. I think she’ll be a great. It feels fated somehow, that she would play Jo March. Maybe that’s why Saoirse was not nervous.
Photos courtesy of WENN, cover courtesy of Variety.
Is she saying she turned down roles in teen and tween movies because she’s too good for them?
When you consider her career arc I think she’s justified. There are countless actresses that played in those types of movies who never get any meaningful work.
I know she has gone out for the young lead in a few block busters but got rejected. She and Timothee Chalamet were both in the running for the teen versions of Jean and Cyclops in the latest X-Men reboot a few years back. She was also up for the part of Rey in Star Wars but rumor has it she lost it by talking about the audition process publicly.
Not trying to hate on her by pointing this out, but it isn’t as if she hasn’t given blockbusters and the like a shot. At the end of the day I think Soairse is MUCH more talented than the girls who ended landing those parts. Still, I don’t think the narrative she’s spinning of being uninterested in certain types of films is wholly accurate. Heck, she even stared in a Stephanie Meyer adaption.
She’s a better actress than all actors she “lost” a role too. It says a lot more about those doing the casting then her imo.
Sophie Turner herself said she got the role of Jean Grey due to her social media following. That’s what happens when you have non-creatives making creative decisions – you get Sophie Turner over Saoirse (who doesn’t even have social media) and Elle Fanning who was also in the running.
Also she didn’t say she was opposed to doing blockbusters rather she didn’t opt for tween/teen movies which is very different. That also doesn’t imply that she always had freedom of choice. That luxury is reserved to a very few relatively.
We focus on the ones who made it but there is a lot of actors who had success at a young age and try and chase a young fan base by appearing in tween/teen films and she never did that.
That’s why she is coveted by directors for serious roles and why others are in a purgatory of b-movies and CW series.
Regardless she has one of the best CV’s for a 25 year old ever. She’s been nominated for 3 Oscars already, two for best actress and a total of 163 nominations total. Whatever she’s doing it’s working.
Precious? Jo? No.
I kinda want to see this because looks good with quality cast but Greta bugs big time! The more I find out about her and how she got together with her now husband gives me the sense she’s not that great a person. Shrugs
Louisa never had kids of her own but she raised her sister May’s (Amy’s) daughter.
I hope to see this Christmas Day.
I’m almost done with my first read of Little Women. The cast and director got me excited, and now… I think I hate it? too cute by half, moral preaching, with unlikeable characters save for poor Amy who doesn’t share her family’s contentment with being poor and is ridiculed the whole time for it.
Jo is by far the worst character for me, especially her annoying “sensationalist” story line.
I’m going to give this a shot but I still think several people, Soairse including, are miscast.
This young lady is striking in appearance and quite a talented actress.
I am genuinely so excited to see this film. I am going to go to my local cinema, get a beer and revel in one of my favourite books being brought to screen by new actors. I saw the one with Winona Ryder and loved it. I am always here to see a good adaption of my favourite books brought to screen, and I hope this is one of them.
I grew up in the town Alcott made famous and I get why it’s a Christmas release. Same was true of Gillian Armstrong’s version, which I loved. I wonder if it will include the line abt Marmee (Mrs March) being angry just about every day of her life.