Meryl Streep to play Aunt March in Greta Gerwig’s Little Women
When news broke that Greta Gerwig would be directing a new version of Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women” as her followup to “Lady Bird,” we heard that Meryl Streep, Emma Stone, Saoirse Ronan, Timothee Chalamet and Florence Pugh were in talks to star. But who would they be playing?
Anyone familiar with Alcott’s classic novel about the March sisters could connect the dots: Ronan would play the fiercely independent Jo, Stone would fit as the sensible eldest sister Meg and Pugh would be a natural as the confident youngest sister, Amy. (Quiet Beth’s casting TBD.) Chalamet would make a lovely Laurie, the boy-next-door.
It was presumed by many that Streep would play Marmie, the March sisters’ beloved mother. But, Robin Swicord, who wrote the 1994 film version of “Little Women” and will, along with Amy Pascal and Denise Di Novi, produce the Gerwig adaptation, says Streep will portray Josephine March, the girls’ wealthy, hardto-please aunt.
But the acerbic aunt may also be the meatier part in Gerwig’s movie. Though Aunt March hasn’t enjoyed nearly as much screen time as Marmie in most previous film and television adaptations of “Little Women,” Swicord says Gerwig’s screenplay focuses more on the sisters’ young adult lives after they leave the family home.
“It’s really taking a look at what it is for a young woman to enter the adult world,” Swicord says, adding that Gerwig’s screenplay jumps back and forth in time, focusing more on themes than narrative.
Swicord says filming will begin Oct. 1 with a fall 2019 release date.