Transitioning from actor to filmmaker isn’t always the easiest task and some actors, charged with making vanity projects sometimes fall on their face, never to direct a movie again. This is certainly not the case for Greta Gerwig’s coming of age directorial debut, “Lady Bird,” which received a warm welcome after its press screening at the New York Film Festival on Friday. Starring Saoirse Ronan, the “Brooklyn” actress shines as Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson along ide three-time Emmy award winning actress Laurie Metcalf playing her mother, Marion McPherson.
The complicated dynamics between these two incredibly talented women plays out like fireworks on screen, supported by the extraordinary talents of Tracy Letts, Timothée Chalamet, and the Academy award nominated Lucas Hedges. “Lady Bird” a unique coming of age story, also acts a love letter to Gerwig’s hometown of Sacramento, as well as a story about a mother coming to terms with her own life. Greeted with stellar preliminary reviews and a standing ovation for its debut at the Toronto Film Festival, Gerwig stopped by NYFF to discuss the film, her process and when she knew Saoirse Ronan was the perfect choice to play the lead.
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“We met at Toronto Film Festival in 2015,” said Gerwig, “Saoirse read the script and really responded to it, so we did a read in her hotel room and I knew within the first two pages in that she was Lady Bird.” Gerwig enthusiastically sang praises for the young actress, who at only 23, has been nominated for an Academy Award twice, and has consistently received critical acclaim for her film and theater work. With highly lauded roles in the Broadway revival of ‘The Crucible” as well as her career-defining role as Ellis in “Brooklyn,” Saoirse Ronan obviously has what it takes to make her mark on the industry. “She is an incredible actress, I can’t say enough about her. There was something about the way she did it [during the read through]. It was instantly different than how I heard it in my head. It was so much better, so unique and specific to her,” Gerwig noted. “She always came from a place of sincerity, never played the joke with quotes around it and really played it from the inside”. Her approach Gerwig said, “made everything vivid in a way I always hoped for but you just never know if you’re going to find the exact person who who would be able to that. She just instantly did it.”
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The incorporation of music at key points in the film helped to solidify the emotional content within the scenes in which they were being played. When asked about incorporating the famous Stephen Sondheim song “Everybody Says Don’t,” Greta Gerwig smiled brightly as if pleased by the question. “I am a big Sondheim fan, clearly, and this is one of my favorite songs,” she laughed. “I thought that it spoke to where her character was at that point.” Lady Bird at this stage in the story undoubtedly felt trapped, “always feeling like everywhere she turned she couldn’t move,” Gerwig said. “The minute I heard [Ronan] sing it though, it was just so funny,” Gerwig said as she smiled to the delighted audience. “She was listening to the Barbara Streisand recording a lot, so this is her way of channeling Barbara!” Notable songs from the late ’90s and early ’00s also make their way into the film, including the Dave Matthew’s Band hit “Crash Into Me” and Alanis Morrisette‘s hit “Hand in My Pocket,” which might be a nice thrill for former Generation X-ers.
Timothée Chalamet, who at such a young age, is currently dominating the festival circuit with his breakthrough performance in “Call Me By Your Name” alongside Armie Hammer, is a powerhouse young talent making big waves in the industry. A reporter rightly referred to Laurie Metcalf as an “icon of American culture” and when asked how casting Metcalf came about, Gerwig replied, “the minute her name came up I just thought, ‘she must do this.’ She’s remarkable and a genius!” Gerwig went on to say that she knew she needed someone who could hit a home run. “I knew she had this enormous power and skill set, and that empathy she brought right into the character.” Soon after they discussed the role, Metcalf signed on to do the film because, she quipped, “I have a 17 year old who is killing me!” As Greta recounted the story the audience laughed, she recalled Metcalf’s impeccable acting skill from her many years on the television series “Roseanne” where she earned all four of her Emmy wins. “With her and Saoirse, it was a match of greats, each of them had different ways of getting into it” Gerwig explained ” but when we filmed her scenes it was like watching two heavy weights.” Writer/actor Tracy Letts is an industry veteran, having written screenplays for some very well-known films including Academy Award nominated “August: Osage County.” In this film, he plays Metcalf’s loving (and patient) husband, Larry McPherson. Interestingly enough, both knew each other through the years in the industry but never had the chance to work together. “The intimacy and familiarity they had, [as well as the fact that] both are from the Midwest, gave the film reality and depth that’s hard to achieve on the fly,” Gerwig remarked.