Emma Watson To Replace Emma Stone In Greta Gerwig’s ‘Little Women’

In 2017, shortly after the success of Damien Chazelle‘s “La La Land,” Emma Watson became the topic of discussion as news outlets began speculating why Emma Stone had replaced her on the film.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Watson stated, “It’s one of these frustrating things where sort of names get attached to projects very early on as a way to kind of build anticipation or excitement for something that’s coming before anything is really actually agreed or set in stone” (no pun intended). She went on to say, “scheduling conflict-wise, it just didn’t work out.”

Ironically enough, two years later, the situation has flipped, only this time, it’s Emma Stone that’s having scheduling issues, and Emma Watson is taking over.

Back in June, we reported Greta Gerwig signed on to write and direct the adaption of “Little Women,” and she already had her “dream cast” lined up, which included Meryl Streep, Emma Stone, Saoirse Ronan, and Timothee Chalamet. However, it looks like Emma Stone has obligations that are taking her away from the project.

According to Variety,  Stone is unable to join the cast because of promotional obligations for the Fox Searchlight film “The Favourite,” an award season contender that could potentially take up her fall should she get busy on the all-consuming Oscar circuit (meanwhile, this bodes well for how confident Searchlight is of the movie and her chances). And with production on “Little Women” set to start next month, Sony quickly approached Watson.

Gerwig is writing and directing this newest adaption of the Louisa May Alcott novel about a group of sisters in post-Civil War America, and it sounds like Streep, Ronan, and Chalamet are all still attached as well.

While IMDb has Watson listed as playing Meg March, Variety stated that roles are still being worked out and it is unknown which sister Watson would be playing.

The project has been set up at Columbia Pictures, with Amy Pascal set to produce with Denise Di Novi and Robin Swicord. Andrea Giannetti will oversee the production for Sony. [Variety]