Greta Gerwig Enters Oscar Season With 'Lady Bird'

While we’re not going to take all the credit, it should be noted that Greta Gerwig‘s solo directorial debut “Lady Bird,” was featured on our, 50 Films We Hope To See At The 2017 Fall Festivals. Clearly, somebody is listening because the film is coming for Oscar season.

A24 has snapped up the film, and with it, raced the picture up our must-see list for the months ahead. Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Lucas Hedges, and Tracy Letts star in the Scott Rudin produced movie about a teenager from Sacramento who prepares to head off to college in New York City. If that sounds like it shares some DNA with “Frances Ha,” which Gerwig co-wrote with Noah Baumbach, you’re not wrong, and in fact, there was a whole Sacramento section of that movie they cut from the script.

“I had written a long section that had taken place in Sacramento. It was about 30 pages, it was a long section, and a lot of things happened and there were new characters. At some point, Noah said, ‘I think we have to cut that section. I don’t think it fits.’ I was really upset about it, but then he was right. It just didn’t fit in the story, I think. And he has more experience of being ruthless with his own writing,” Gerwig told us in 2013. “I had less experience with just cutting 30 pages and saying it just doesn’t fit. It was good that we cut it. In some ways, I love big sprawling movies where there are too many characters and people get introduced halfway through and you’re like, ‘Wait, who are these people?’ And I think at some point, I’d like to make a movie that indulges all of that, but I think he was right that this wasn’t the movie to do it on.”

So, did Gerwig use some of that material here? We’ll find out, but we wouldn’t be surprised if she did.

A24 will release “Lady Bird” this fall, but you can bet it’s going to get a big splashy festival premiere first. [Deadline]