WEBVTT - Who’s the woman behind Little Women? 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:02.280 Next Question with Katie Curic is a production of I 0:00:02.400 --> 0:00:06.800 Heart Radio and Katie Couric Media. Hi, everyone, welcome to 0:00:06.880 --> 0:00:09.920 Next Question. I'm Katie Kuric. I can already tell that 0:00:10.039 --> 0:00:13.160 this moment in my life I'll look back on and say, 0:00:14.040 --> 0:00:18.640 what the hell is I think? Greta Gerwig is a 0:00:18.680 --> 0:00:22.040 modern version of a Hollywood triple threat. With films like 0:00:22.079 --> 0:00:25.599 Frances Ha and twenties Century Women, She's proved to be 0:00:25.640 --> 0:00:29.319 a formidable actress, but since she's turned her focus to 0:00:29.560 --> 0:00:32.880 behind the camera, she's become one of the most successful 0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:36.640 writer directors in the business. Her last film, Lady Bird, 0:00:37.000 --> 0:00:41.800 was heralded by critics and audiences alike, including me. Gretta 0:00:41.880 --> 0:00:45.920 once again is exploring the complexities of female relationships and 0:00:46.040 --> 0:00:50.199 ambition with her new adaptations of Little Women, based on 0:00:50.240 --> 0:00:53.159 the Louisa may Alcock classic that so many of us 0:00:53.280 --> 0:00:57.040 remember from our Childhood's Little Women is a love letter 0:00:57.120 --> 0:01:00.520 to all of us who break the shackles of invention 0:01:01.000 --> 0:01:04.440 and write our own stories. So my next question is 0:01:04.680 --> 0:01:08.400 what is gretti Girlwig story? And ken Hollywood handle it? 0:01:10.360 --> 0:01:13.880 You realized you were a great storyteller because of a 0:01:14.000 --> 0:01:18.360 very funny incident in seventh grade. Oh god, yes, wow, 0:01:18.480 --> 0:01:22.040 you really we really did our research gradish, I know, 0:01:22.640 --> 0:01:27.240 Oh my god, yes, yes, Well I had an incident 0:01:27.240 --> 0:01:31.240 in seventh grade. It was a new school, uh in California, 0:01:31.760 --> 0:01:34.720 you know, Junior High is its own seventh and eighth grade. 0:01:34.720 --> 0:01:37.559 They're like, let's take you at your most awkward two years, 0:01:37.880 --> 0:01:41.039 put you in a group that's much bigger and scarier, 0:01:41.160 --> 0:01:43.640 and then just see how you do. Which I don't 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:46.600 know why they do that. That's very Darwinian, isn't it. Yeah, 0:01:46.680 --> 0:01:49.480 it really is. I have this visual memory of walking 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:53.880 in and knowing my classmates from elementary school, and I 0:01:53.920 --> 0:01:56.680 felt like everyone was just like, spend for yourself, we'll 0:01:56.680 --> 0:01:59.200 see you in high school. Like it was. It was 0:01:59.520 --> 0:02:03.120 definitely the Lord of the Flies. But I was taking 0:02:03.120 --> 0:02:07.320 a math test, a placement test, and I didn't know 0:02:07.960 --> 0:02:10.040 was I allowed to get up? Was I allowed to 0:02:10.080 --> 0:02:12.079 say I had to go the bathroom? And so I 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:15.480 didn't and I was anyway anyway, I ended up peeing 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:20.160 my pants during the math test. But actually the true 0:02:20.200 --> 0:02:23.520 thing that happened, which I was the girl next to 0:02:23.560 --> 0:02:27.040 me saw it happen, and she took off her sweatshirt 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:28.480 and gave it to me, and she was like put 0:02:28.520 --> 0:02:30.840 this around her, raised and go run to the nurse's office, 0:02:30.919 --> 0:02:34.000 like she took care of me. And I loved that girl, 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:37.440 I know. But isn't it interesting that act of kindness 0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:42.880 but entirely new lends on what might have been a 0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:46.360 soul crushing experience for you? Right yeah, I mean it 0:02:46.440 --> 0:02:51.200 wasn't my favorite experience. I'm not saying it was, but 0:02:51.240 --> 0:02:55.120 it was. That's the thing I remember, and in in 0:02:55.800 --> 0:03:00.799 so many ways, is that someone just being kind And honestly, 0:03:01.520 --> 0:03:05.760 kids who are thirteen and fourteen, they're not necessarily kind 0:03:06.200 --> 0:03:08.880 and looking out for each other. And I thought that 0:03:08.880 --> 0:03:13.280 that was a moment that UM defined in some ways 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:16.919 my worldview of people. Kind of you can you can 0:03:16.960 --> 0:03:19.080 be paying your pants in a math test and someone 0:03:19.160 --> 0:03:23.280 will help you. Someone will give you their sweatshirt, like 0:03:23.320 --> 0:03:26.600 I got you. Um. And in fact, you wrote a 0:03:26.639 --> 0:03:28.600 piece of about it. You wrote a paper about it 0:03:28.639 --> 0:03:31.480 a year later, right, well, actually the next year in 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:35.040 eighth grade, I wrote this like UM kind of essay, 0:03:35.160 --> 0:03:37.480 like this humor essay. It was like a sort of 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:41.880 piece of creative writing, and and the teacher liked it, 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:44.760 so she put it up on the bulletin board. Um, 0:03:44.880 --> 0:03:48.760 and then everyone read it, and then they anyone who 0:03:48.840 --> 0:03:50.840 didn't know that this had happened, was all of a 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:53.720 sudden like I thought that was just a rumor that 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:56.280 you really did that, And I was like, no, I was, 0:03:56.880 --> 0:03:59.680 but I had a sense that it was funny anyway. 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:02.400 I you it was funny. I knew it was. It 0:04:02.480 --> 0:04:06.080 was like a humiliation that was actually quite funny. You're 0:04:06.160 --> 0:04:08.560 pretty brave to put yourself out there because a lot 0:04:08.600 --> 0:04:11.440 of people would never want to think about that incident again, 0:04:11.440 --> 0:04:14.000 and yet you write a paper. So the people, as 0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:17.880 you said, who didn't know all now I know they 0:04:17.920 --> 0:04:21.960 all knew. No, I think, Um, I think that's the 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:25.599 way I've found to deal with most things is to 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:29.680 make it into art somehow, whether it's you know, in 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:32.440 the eighth grade writing a little humor essay or now 0:04:32.800 --> 0:04:36.200 I think I am always turning the thing that happens 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:42.120 into um into story, into into a movie, into a character, 0:04:42.880 --> 0:04:47.360 because it's it's my coping mechanism, but also into an 0:04:47.400 --> 0:04:52.520 almost universal experience. Right you You almost want to, I 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:57.119 wouldn't say necessarily normalize something like that, but you want 0:04:57.200 --> 0:05:02.760 to expose it because it shows everyone how vulnerable we 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:04.919 all are. I mean, we all could have been that 0:05:05.040 --> 0:05:08.960 seventh grader MP during the math test, right, it is yes, 0:05:09.040 --> 0:05:12.600 And I think it is that kind of I think 0:05:12.760 --> 0:05:16.240 it's funny because sometimes you can feel like, am I 0:05:16.279 --> 0:05:18.600 screaming into a void? Does anyone hear this? And that 0:05:18.720 --> 0:05:22.320 she says, yeah, everyone knows. Everyone knows, And I think 0:05:22.320 --> 0:05:25.000 that that's um when I go to the movies, when 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:27.040 I go to theater, when I read a book. It's 0:05:27.120 --> 0:05:30.479 amazing to me still that art is the thing that 0:05:30.560 --> 0:05:35.240 can reach out and uh and touch you. But in 0:05:35.279 --> 0:05:37.800 this way that you say, or I always say to myself, 0:05:37.839 --> 0:05:41.200 I'm like, oh my god, somebody knows. They know, like 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:45.039 like some part of yourself you thought was wrong or 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:48.760 weird or just embarrassing or anything, and then you see 0:05:48.760 --> 0:05:52.000 it reflected back at you and you thought it's there. 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:54.400 It's there in the world, and someone else knows about 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:58.200 this and you recognize yourself and the story. And that's 0:05:58.320 --> 0:06:00.839 very much the case I think GETA when it comes 0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:03.920 to Ladybird. In some ways, you grew up in Sacramento, 0:06:04.279 --> 0:06:07.920 not unlike Ladybird. Were you a big movie person growing up? 0:06:07.960 --> 0:06:11.240 Do you remember seeing movies and thinking, oh my gosh, 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:15.719 one day. You know, actually, for me it was theater. 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:21.200 It wasn't movies. I didn't really movies seemed not they 0:06:21.240 --> 0:06:24.280 weren't my medium. I didn't. I didn't really understand how 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:27.279 they were made. Um. They felt like they were handed 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:29.760 down from God's They didn't seem like they had been 0:06:29.800 --> 0:06:34.800 made by people. So UM. I loved theater because you 0:06:34.800 --> 0:06:36.760 could see the people who made it right in front 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:40.039 of you, and you know, you could read. You know, 0:06:40.520 --> 0:06:42.400 my favorite playwright when I was in high school was 0:06:42.440 --> 0:06:45.120 Tom Stoppard, and I love Tom Stoppard plays. And I 0:06:45.120 --> 0:06:47.040 could get one of my friends together and we could 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:49.880 memorize it all and put it on like which we did, 0:06:50.000 --> 0:06:52.440 which was extremely weird because no one was asking for 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:54.839 it and we were doing Rosencrants and Guildenstern are Dead. 0:06:54.920 --> 0:06:58.280 But the all female version that was an unsanctioned, like 0:06:58.480 --> 0:07:00.880 class productive, like no, what he said, why don't you 0:07:00.920 --> 0:07:03.599 go do this? Um? But it felt like theater was 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:06.039 something I could just make. I didn't need that much 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:12.080 to make it. UM. And film I didn't. I did, 0:07:12.080 --> 0:07:15.160 We didn't watch TV. I didn't go to the movies 0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:19.160 that much. UM, and it was not something I really 0:07:19.200 --> 0:07:22.760 related to until college. And then I went to college 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:24.960 in New York. And because I went to college here, 0:07:26.160 --> 0:07:30.440 I started going to Film Forum Downtown, which had a 0:07:30.480 --> 0:07:35.840 great repertory program of older movies and new Arthouse movies, UM, 0:07:36.640 --> 0:07:41.200 the Museum of Moving Image, UM Anthology, Film Archives, the 0:07:42.080 --> 0:07:46.200 r I P. Lincoln Lincoln Center Theater. The best UM was, 0:07:46.240 --> 0:07:51.160 which was New Arthouse movies, and and I slowly started 0:07:51.720 --> 0:07:55.760 becoming a cinephile, but it was late relatively. It was 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:57.960 you know, when I was eighteen or nineteen. It wasn't. 0:07:58.080 --> 0:07:59.680 It wasn't when I was a kid. And this was 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:03.560 when you were a Barnard majoring in philosophy and English. 0:08:04.160 --> 0:08:08.000 And it sounds like movies, well, movies on the side, definitely. 0:08:08.000 --> 0:08:11.080 I know. I took film studies classes there, but they 0:08:11.120 --> 0:08:13.720 didn't have a film because it was it's not a 0:08:13.800 --> 0:08:15.840 b f A, so it wasn't a film practice. It 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:21.920 was like it was a film series, film UM, film history. UM. Yeah, 0:08:22.120 --> 0:08:24.440 I know you were. You wanted to get your m 0:08:24.520 --> 0:08:30.040 f A y Yale. They rejected. Okay, can I just 0:08:30.080 --> 0:08:32.040 say I can relate to that. I wanted to go 0:08:32.080 --> 0:08:34.959 to Smith College, where my two older sisters went by 0:08:35.080 --> 0:08:38.679 Beta cap of the whole nine yards Smith Loved sisters 0:08:39.800 --> 0:08:43.560 not even waitlisted. Didn't even get the waitlisted, not even waitlisted. 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:47.280 I got one of those envelopes back in the day. 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:52.240 It was terrible. I mean, they must have really not wanted. Now, 0:08:52.280 --> 0:08:54.600 when I run into the president of Smith, you know what, 0:08:54.679 --> 0:09:02.920 I say, big mistake, just like Julia Robertson exactly, big digue, huge. No, 0:09:03.160 --> 0:09:05.800 that's that makes me so happy that you didn't get 0:09:05.840 --> 0:09:08.440 into Smith. Also because your sisters went it, that makes 0:09:08.440 --> 0:09:11.000 it so much worse. You must have fe like there's 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:14.120 really something wrong with me. Oh yes, I mean that's 0:09:14.160 --> 0:09:18.280 a whole other podcast. That's such a wonderful thing to know. 0:09:18.520 --> 0:09:22.960 I think, I think claiming moments of disappointment and not 0:09:23.160 --> 0:09:27.440 working out it's so important because I think, you know, 0:09:27.800 --> 0:09:30.600 I think it's easy to look and say, well that 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:34.120 she always knew, she always had all the things, everybody thought, 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:36.440 she was great and smart, and she just sailed her 0:09:36.480 --> 0:09:39.199 way through life, and you're like, no, let's face it, 0:09:39.200 --> 0:09:42.480 it's a series of disappointments. Yeah. I mean, even when 0:09:42.480 --> 0:09:44.840 things are going well, it's a it's a given A take. 0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:48.040 Was it crushing for you when you didn't get into Yale, 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:50.640 or were you just like they don't deserve me? It 0:09:50.720 --> 0:09:52.959 was all through. I was Yale, Juilliard, and n YU 0:09:53.120 --> 0:09:56.400 for playwriting, and I got rejected from all three. Um so, 0:09:57.080 --> 0:10:00.480 I mean, certainly, I think that the thought crosses your mind, 0:10:01.080 --> 0:10:04.839 perhaps I should not do this anymore, like the world 0:10:04.840 --> 0:10:07.640 seems to be telling me I'm not very good at this. 0:10:07.880 --> 0:10:13.199 But I I just I just I couldn't. I loved 0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:17.880 it too much, I thought, you know, um, even if 0:10:17.920 --> 0:10:20.080 even if I'm terrible at this, I want to do 0:10:20.160 --> 0:10:23.280 it because I love it so much. And you started 0:10:23.320 --> 0:10:25.640 doing it after Burnett. I know, you got into the 0:10:25.679 --> 0:10:30.680 indie world of filmmaking something called mumble core. One of 0:10:30.720 --> 0:10:33.720 your earliest films that falls into that category, I think 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:38.040 is Hannah Takes the Stairs, which also start Mark Duplas. 0:10:38.160 --> 0:10:40.040 You know. I didn't tell you this today yet, but 0:10:40.120 --> 0:10:43.720 you look really beautiful on that mask. Yeah, you really, 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:49.920 just you look so gorgeous. Thank you? Do you look 0:10:49.960 --> 0:10:53.400 beautiful in your mask. I didn't really know much about 0:10:53.480 --> 0:10:56.480 mumble core until I was preparing for this interview. It 0:10:56.640 --> 0:10:58.599 is a term that has been used to describe the 0:10:58.679 --> 0:11:01.760 set of films. But it was never a thing where 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:04.680 we said we're making mumblecore movies and here's what they are. 0:11:04.880 --> 0:11:07.280 It's that there were just all these different filmmakers at 0:11:07.320 --> 0:11:12.080 this particular moment kind of between two thousand and five 0:11:12.160 --> 0:11:17.200 and two thousand and eight ish where they started making 0:11:17.240 --> 0:11:20.640 movies for not a lot of money with not professional actors, 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:26.280 where it was about a feeling of people behaving more, 0:11:26.360 --> 0:11:30.800 how people behave less like you know, waking up with um, 0:11:31.320 --> 0:11:35.559 you know, perfectly lit makeup and all this stuff. It 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:38.880 was the feeling of like, this is not how people 0:11:39.000 --> 0:11:42.920 live like about films. It was like that's not I 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:47.840 don't recognize people here. It was also heavily relied on 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:49.920 not all of them because there's a kind of a 0:11:49.960 --> 0:11:52.680 catch all phrase. But there's a lot of improvisation that 0:11:52.760 --> 0:11:57.480 went on which was very useful. Um and and and 0:11:57.520 --> 0:11:59.760 the sort of all hands on debt quality was very 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:06.400 full because I learned how to make movies by making movies. 0:12:06.559 --> 0:12:11.240 And there was no boom operator. I held the boom, 0:12:11.320 --> 0:12:13.560 there was no editor. We all sat around it and 0:12:13.679 --> 0:12:17.160 edited it at night. It was this very collaborative process, 0:12:17.240 --> 0:12:22.520 and I think I learned quickly how movies work what 0:12:22.720 --> 0:12:25.600 is interesting on camera, and we weren't making them as 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:30.920 calling cards to another movie. That was the movie. We 0:12:30.920 --> 0:12:35.240 were taking it seriously and it ended up being like 0:12:35.320 --> 0:12:38.440 my graduate school. Was there anyone in particular he felt 0:12:38.480 --> 0:12:42.880 like you really learned from There's a filmmaker. We still 0:12:42.920 --> 0:12:47.760 love his work. Um Andrew Buljoski, who I think last 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:51.000 year he made this wonderful film Support the Girls, UM, 0:12:51.080 --> 0:12:53.800 which if you haven't seen it, go see it. It's great. 0:12:54.440 --> 0:13:00.720 And he even though it seemed like his dialog was improvised, 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:03.280 it wasn't. It was very tightly scripted and very precise. 0:13:03.360 --> 0:13:05.240 And I really loved the way he shot films and 0:13:05.280 --> 0:13:08.600 thought about films, and UM, I looked up to him 0:13:08.640 --> 0:13:12.360 a great deal, and um he's continued to make great movies. 0:13:12.400 --> 0:13:16.080 But it was that kind of um, very precise cinematic 0:13:16.120 --> 0:13:21.240 writing that sounds like conversation, which is then became the 0:13:21.280 --> 0:13:25.199 thing I was chasing. So I moved away entirely from 0:13:25.200 --> 0:13:30.200 improvisation because I started trying to get that sense of 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:34.440 the language mattering, UM, which was really in line with 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:36.520 what I was interested in as a play, right, which 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:39.679 is about writing, but also I imagine about cadence. You know, 0:13:39.760 --> 0:13:43.079 the way people talk over each other, the way they interrupt, 0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:47.600 the way that natural conversation occurs. It is very um 0:13:47.600 --> 0:13:54.199 appealing to me, natural sounding conversation that's been sculpted. It's 0:13:54.840 --> 0:13:59.080 it's my preference. It's my favorite. It's my favorite one. 0:13:59.120 --> 0:14:03.200 It it's seems like it's not written, and people say, oh, 0:14:03.240 --> 0:14:07.680 it was it improvised? No, of course not. It's every 0:14:07.679 --> 0:14:10.360 word I like it said exactly how I wrote it. 0:14:10.640 --> 0:14:15.480 So you moved Greta from acting initially to to writing 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:20.760 and directing. I'm curious why why you decided you wanted 0:14:21.080 --> 0:14:24.760 to be more behind the scenes. I wanted to get 0:14:24.800 --> 0:14:30.120 my hands on it however I could in terms of uh, 0:14:30.520 --> 0:14:35.080 theater and film and um. I loved acting because that 0:14:35.200 --> 0:14:38.440 was the way I could interact with it. But I 0:14:38.480 --> 0:14:40.840 didn't really realize I could write. It was a professor 0:14:40.880 --> 0:14:44.280 who said because I kept writing monologues and stuff for 0:14:44.400 --> 0:14:46.120 other people, and they're like, do you want to take 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:48.200 a playwriting class? And I was like, no, no, no, 0:14:48.600 --> 0:14:51.280 other people do that, and like, you keep doing it, 0:14:51.400 --> 0:14:54.040 so maybe you'd like to do this. And this was 0:14:54.080 --> 0:14:56.960 in college. I was in college, but I had written, 0:14:57.080 --> 0:14:59.680 I had been writing the whole time. When I was 0:14:59.680 --> 0:15:02.800 in high school. Whenever there was a like an assembly 0:15:02.840 --> 0:15:05.640 and they needed a sketch, I would always write the sketches. 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:07.840 That always. But I never thought of myself as a 0:15:07.840 --> 0:15:10.000 writer because, to be totally honest, I thought it was 0:15:10.880 --> 0:15:13.080 I thought someone who was much smarter than me, and 0:15:13.200 --> 0:15:16.320 probably a man would be would be doing the writing. 0:15:16.480 --> 0:15:19.760 I thought it was. I didn't know any female playwrights. 0:15:19.760 --> 0:15:22.760 I didn't know any female writer directors. I just didn't 0:15:22.920 --> 0:15:26.080 And and then I I got educated about them, but 0:15:26.840 --> 0:15:29.520 it was something that had not occurred to me on 0:15:29.560 --> 0:15:32.440 some deep level even though I was doing it, and 0:15:32.520 --> 0:15:36.880 I had to be very literally told, this is an 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:39.840 option for you. Um. And then I started doing. I mean, 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:42.600 I was writing, I was producing, I was directing, but 0:15:42.680 --> 0:15:45.720 I was also UM. I was a stage manager, I 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:49.320 worked in lights and sound. I did a lot of 0:15:49.360 --> 0:15:52.120 different things because I wanted to be part of the 0:15:52.160 --> 0:15:54.000 world so much, and I figured if I could do 0:15:54.040 --> 0:15:56.080 lots of things, they'd have to let me in somewhere. 0:15:56.560 --> 0:15:59.280 And that was really smart of you, So, you know, honestly, 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:04.640 because you became an apprentice and all these different um, 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:08.840 you know, disciplines and and then of course you learned 0:16:08.880 --> 0:16:12.800 how to be the conductor because you understood what everybody 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:16.800 did and probably honestly respected it too. I mean, that's 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:20.880 definitely how I hope I took all that experience, because 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:26.960 filmmaking is the most collaborative art form, so getting to 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:30.800 operate in all the different areas of constructing a movie 0:16:30.840 --> 0:16:35.160 is incredibly useful. And I'm I'm dead in the water 0:16:35.280 --> 0:16:39.280 without the people around me, And every single person who's 0:16:39.320 --> 0:16:42.360 working on a film is to me, they are the 0:16:42.400 --> 0:16:46.080 filmmaker for the thing that they're doing. You tell the 0:16:46.160 --> 0:16:50.600 story in so many ways, and I need every single 0:16:50.600 --> 0:16:54.200 person on set to to tell it with me otherwise 0:16:54.200 --> 0:16:57.000 I guess what am I doing. Of course, Lady Bird, 0:16:57.040 --> 0:17:02.280 which your big, big breakthrough, and it so much about relationships. 0:17:03.200 --> 0:17:07.680 Why didn't you just say pick up your face? You're 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:13.159 so infurious not yelling? Oh it's perfect? What was it 0:17:13.200 --> 0:17:17.600 about that film that made it resonate so much? Everyone? 0:17:18.040 --> 0:17:22.760 Everyone has a family, everybody understands, everybody comes from somewhere. 0:17:22.840 --> 0:17:26.199 Everybody knows what it is to love and what it 0:17:26.320 --> 0:17:30.560 is to lose. Everyone there's no pre what requisites for 0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:33.680 understanding a story, and I think that with lady bird. 0:17:33.720 --> 0:17:37.159 It's that thing of you. You don't come from a 0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:40.760 generalized place. You come from a specific place. And my 0:17:40.880 --> 0:17:43.480 specific place that I could speak to was Sacramento. But 0:17:43.560 --> 0:17:45.320 I think that that connects. I think, you know, the 0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:47.920 more specific you get, the more universal it can be 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:51.000 because it connects back to everyone. And then you think 0:17:51.000 --> 0:17:53.240 of the specific house you grew up in and what 0:17:53.320 --> 0:17:56.960 your specific relationship with all those people were, and and 0:17:57.000 --> 0:17:59.159 I think, Um, I had lots of men tell me 0:17:59.760 --> 0:18:02.040 they like, I know it's about a teenage girl, but 0:18:02.280 --> 0:18:05.399 I am. I feel like I'm ladybird. I was like, 0:18:05.880 --> 0:18:08.000 that's fine, you're six year old man, and I totally 0:18:08.040 --> 0:18:10.720 support you in that. I think that that's right, your ladybird. 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:14.960 I loved her relationship with her mom. Course, I worship 0:18:15.800 --> 0:18:18.440 luring that calf and I mean, she was just so 0:18:19.040 --> 0:18:23.359 phenomenal in it. Um. And I think again, that sort 0:18:23.359 --> 0:18:26.520 of goes back to your mumble core days. Don't you 0:18:26.560 --> 0:18:31.480 think you were heavily influenced by the reality of their relationship. 0:18:31.600 --> 0:18:34.360 People are like, yeah, I remember going through clothes with 0:18:34.400 --> 0:18:38.159 my mom. I mean, taking these very typical scenes and 0:18:38.200 --> 0:18:41.040 everyone's like, oh, yeah, I did that with my mom. Yeah, 0:18:41.080 --> 0:18:44.080 my mom drove me crazy about this. I remember saying 0:18:44.080 --> 0:18:46.320 this at the time. If you stop any woman on 0:18:46.359 --> 0:18:49.160 the street and ask how's your relationship with your mom, 0:18:49.200 --> 0:18:51.280 It's never going to be a one word answer. It's 0:18:51.280 --> 0:18:54.240 never gonna be like good, like that's just not people 0:18:54.240 --> 0:18:57.360 don't that's not true. And I felt like the whole 0:18:57.359 --> 0:19:00.040 time when we were making it, I kept saying, I 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:03.159 can't believe no one's made this yet, like this seems like, 0:19:03.320 --> 0:19:06.800 so why wouldn't you make this movie? Speaking of that 0:19:07.240 --> 0:19:10.000 sitting there, how did your parents feel about that movie? 0:19:10.280 --> 0:19:13.160 And how is your relationship with your mom? How long 0:19:13.200 --> 0:19:16.520 do you have? No, I'm getting they sound super normal 0:19:16.560 --> 0:19:19.199 by the way, wonderful. Yes, and then it sounds like 0:19:19.240 --> 0:19:22.600 they're they're um that you might be sort of the 0:19:22.680 --> 0:19:25.280 quirky one in the group. Am I right? Yes? I am. 0:19:25.320 --> 0:19:27.199 I mean what I will say, and this is not 0:19:27.880 --> 0:19:32.400 there really good people. They're good people, and and they're 0:19:32.480 --> 0:19:35.479 good in in a in a sense that I think, um, 0:19:36.680 --> 0:19:39.440 you know, I think in some ways actually with with 0:19:40.119 --> 0:19:43.320 Little Women, I felt like I was able to tap 0:19:43.359 --> 0:19:45.520 into that as well. It feel very personal to me 0:19:45.560 --> 0:19:48.720 in that way. But there, um, they have a sense 0:19:48.720 --> 0:19:54.040 of civic responsibility, moral responsibility, responsibility to their city and 0:19:54.080 --> 0:19:56.480 their family and their community. And it's a very like 0:19:58.080 --> 0:20:02.399 It reminds me when I go back home that you 0:20:02.440 --> 0:20:05.959 can be a good citizen and a good person and 0:20:06.000 --> 0:20:08.199 you can take care of each other. And I think that, 0:20:08.440 --> 0:20:11.640 um uh, you know every and also everyone who meets 0:20:11.640 --> 0:20:14.840 my mom is like your mom is wonderful. OK. I know, 0:20:15.560 --> 0:20:20.239 I know are lucky. Yes, I am very lucky. Coming up, 0:20:20.240 --> 0:20:24.320 Gretta talks about her latest movie, Little Women, and how 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:32.040 she made the Louisa may Alcock classic her own. Let's 0:20:32.040 --> 0:20:36.919 talk about Little Women. You've assembled a dream team in 0:20:36.960 --> 0:20:40.560 this latest movie. You have Sir Sha Ronan, who I've 0:20:40.600 --> 0:20:45.200 got such a girl crush on, Emma Watson, Laura Dern 0:20:45.520 --> 0:20:49.280 also a girl crush on Meryl Street, Eliza Scamblin, and 0:20:49.520 --> 0:20:55.000 Florence Pugh who are the newer, newer, young, obviously incredibly 0:20:55.040 --> 0:20:59.200 talented actors. Um. Before we talk about the film, let's 0:20:59.240 --> 0:21:02.200 talk about the book. Were you a big fan of 0:21:02.280 --> 0:21:05.040 the book growing up? Yes? I was that the book 0:21:05.200 --> 0:21:08.040 was It was one of my favorite books. I read 0:21:08.040 --> 0:21:10.119 it over and over and over. I mean I was 0:21:10.200 --> 0:21:13.920 a rereader as a child. I think maybe it's something 0:21:14.000 --> 0:21:16.800 children do that the adults stopped doing, of watching the 0:21:16.840 --> 0:21:19.240 same movie as or reading the same books over and 0:21:19.240 --> 0:21:23.560 over again, like it becomes part of you somehow. Um. 0:21:23.600 --> 0:21:27.120 It's also sort of comforting. It's very comforting, and it's 0:21:27.119 --> 0:21:33.800 that ritualistic, uh revisiting of characters. It's another reason why 0:21:34.040 --> 0:21:37.480 like the structures of I'm a huge Law and Order fan, 0:21:38.040 --> 0:21:41.560 but like, I know, it's my favorite, but there's a 0:21:41.680 --> 0:21:45.600 deep relaxation in me that occurs because I know the 0:21:45.640 --> 0:21:49.320 beats of the show. And I think that's one of 0:21:49.320 --> 0:21:53.040 the reasons why people love it is because Okay, well 0:21:53.080 --> 0:21:55.640 it's only minute twenties, so that's not the guy. We're 0:21:55.640 --> 0:21:59.080 gonna wait to get him till minute forty five. I'm not, 0:21:59.200 --> 0:22:02.280 you know you just no, Um, I'm going to have 0:22:02.359 --> 0:22:05.439 to pay do a little matchmaking between you and Marishka. 0:22:06.160 --> 0:22:10.920 I love her, I mean I love her, do you know? Okay, 0:22:10.960 --> 0:22:12.439 I don't want to meet her because I love her 0:22:12.480 --> 0:22:15.560 so much. No, you're gonna love her in person. Most comforting, 0:22:15.880 --> 0:22:18.840 you know, like in meditation when they say, like go 0:22:19.320 --> 0:22:21.920 think of a beach or something that makes you feel safe, 0:22:22.040 --> 0:22:24.960 And I was thinking of Mashka his face because I 0:22:25.000 --> 0:22:27.840 feel like she's so compassionate and it really just comes 0:22:27.920 --> 0:22:31.560 through on the screen. I feel like she's so wonderful 0:22:31.680 --> 0:22:34.119 and I don't know anything about her really in her life, 0:22:34.200 --> 0:22:37.760 but I think that the person she is shines through, 0:22:38.280 --> 0:22:42.160 like she makes you feel so unjudged. I'm gonna send 0:22:42.280 --> 0:22:45.240 I'm going to send that to her and get her reaction. 0:22:45.320 --> 0:22:48.240 What a nice compliment, I love. I mean, this is amazing, 0:22:48.359 --> 0:22:51.639 It's so funny, it's wonderful. All this is the sixth, 0:22:52.359 --> 0:22:56.320 sixth film adaptation of Little Women, so I think it's 0:22:56.320 --> 0:22:59.119 a seventh, is it? Yeah? Yeah, I'm gonna have to 0:22:59.240 --> 0:23:05.399 fire Mirace and two animes shows to animal and a 0:23:05.520 --> 0:23:08.280 musical and an opera. Oh my god, all right, did 0:23:08.320 --> 0:23:10.399 you watch all the movies, Bretta? No? You know what 0:23:10.440 --> 0:23:13.119 I did was I have have seen all the movies 0:23:13.200 --> 0:23:15.000 at different points. I didn't look at any of the 0:23:15.560 --> 0:23:20.359 movies because I wanted it because with Little Women, obviously 0:23:20.400 --> 0:23:22.439 the books put around for a hundred and fifty years. 0:23:22.520 --> 0:23:26.840 But I feel that the iconography of Little Women, the 0:23:26.960 --> 0:23:29.840 kind of collective memory of what it is is that 0:23:30.080 --> 0:23:33.240 it's the error text. It's the text writ large and 0:23:33.280 --> 0:23:35.120 I think as a filmmaker, when I wanted to do 0:23:35.840 --> 0:23:40.919 was to take that collective memory that we have of 0:23:40.960 --> 0:23:43.119 what Little Women is. Whether it's you know, Marmie and 0:23:43.160 --> 0:23:45.840 the girls sitting around by the fire, or Amy burning 0:23:45.840 --> 0:23:47.880 the book or the dance. You know, there's all these 0:23:47.920 --> 0:23:50.240 things that we have in our minds of what Little 0:23:50.240 --> 0:23:53.680 Women is. That I felt like I could take that 0:23:53.800 --> 0:23:56.680