Why we need a ‘Little Women’ remake now
Objections notwithstanding, the time is right for a new version — by Greta Gerwig — of the classic for the new generation
Screenwriter Robin Swicord remembers the questions: Why make another movie out of Little Women? It’s been done before, right? And quite well. What could another version possibly have to offer?
Swicord heard those queries in 1994 while promoting the last film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel about the smart, strong and independent-minded March sisters. And she’s hearing echoes of those same complaints-framed-as-questions today as a producer on Greta Gerwig’s recently announced new version of Little Women.
And, yes, she finds the logic behind the questioning rather ... interesting.
“I remember right after our Little Women came out, there was another movie about King Arthur (1995’s First Knight), and yet I don’t remember hearing anyone wondering why we needed another film about the Knights of the Round Table,” Swicord says. “It did feel kind of funny that it was just Little Women that fielded those sorts of questions.”
A quarter century will have passed between the 1994 Little Women, a critical and commercial hit beautifully brought to life by Australian director Gillian Armstrong, and the version that Gerwig will begin filming in Boston with Saoirse Ronan, Meryl Streep, Emma Stone and Timothee Chalamet this October.
But people still object to the first movie version of Little Women in a generation.
To those objectors, it’s worth pointing out that the themes and characters of Little Women are sturdy and timeless.
Swicord says she gets the grumbling and, in a way, she’s flattered by people saying that no one could improve on the Little Women movie she wrote, with a superbly cast ensemble featuring Winona Ryder, Claire Danes, Trini Alvarado, Kirsten Dunst and Samantha Burrows as the March sisters (Dunst and Burrows played Amy at different ages); Christian Bale as the crush-worthy boy next door, Laurie; and Susan Sarandon as the strong, understanding mother, Marmee.
When Swicord and Amy Pascal and Denise Di Novi began thinking about making another version of Little Women a few years ago, they had to clear that
“Little Women’ is about really taking a look at what it is for a young woman to enter the adult world.”
| Writer-producer initial hurdle of finding an approach that would speak to a new set of moviegoers who might not know Alcott’s book.
Gerwig came in two years ago after writing Lady Bird, another movie about young women finding and asserting themselves. Having graduated from Barnard College where she studied English and philosophy, Gerwig arrived full of ideas for a new version of Little Women.
Gerwig’s version will focus more on the March sisters’ lives as young adults after Meg, Jo and Amy leave home. Scenes from the girls’ childhood will be seen as well, with the story jumping back and forth in time, past memories illuminating themes of identity and self-esteem and the deep, complex bonds among sisters.
“Little Women is really about taking a look at what it is for a young woman to enter the adult GeailldiaonllAa rvmitisotnrosnegn’sat1i9u9r 4 Rqouayt ’s 19F4ill 2 ve rsDioonc.teur George Cukor’s 1933 Katherine Hepburn. world,” Swicord says. “It’s a clear-eyed approach to the challenges women face as they try to bravely move into new situations.”
Swicord confirms the casting: Ronan will play the fiercely independent Jo; Stone will portray sensible eldest sister Meg; and Florence Pugh is cast as the confident youngest sister, Amy. Chalamet makes for a natural Laurie, the charming and rich neighbour who falls in love with the March family and ends up proposing to two of the sisters. And Streep will play the acerbic Aunt March.
“That book was a lifeline for me as a young reader because Jo March was the only writer I knew,” Swicord says. “Reading her story showed me that a small-town, tomboyish girl could leave home for the big city and become a writer and maintain her family ties. Alcott saw her ambition as admirable, showing how it didn’t cause the family to disintegrate.”
“That idea was one thing I wanted to convey in my adaptation,” Swicord adds. “Greta has another take, and 25 years from now another writer will come up with another fresh way into the book. That’s the beauty of Little Women. It’s not going anywhere.”