This seems like the logical if not inevitable next step for rising star and filmmaker Greta Gerwig. Her distinct voice has shone through in her collaborations with Noah Baumbach on "Frances Ha" and the upcoming "Mistress America," she co-directed "Nights and Weekends" with Joe Swanberg, and now she’s striking out on her own behind the camera.
Deadline reports that Gerwig will make her directorial debut with "Lady Bird," from a script she also wrote, but she will not star in the movie. The plot will detail a young woman’s last year spent in Sacramento, and it’s a setting not unfamiliar to Gerwig. You might recall that Frances goes to the city during "Frances Ha," but there was actually much more to the section that was cut from the original script, and we wonder if that didn’t serve as the foundation for this new film.
"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," Gerwig told us in 2013.
Of course, we’ll have to see if that material launched this new tale or not, but it seems that Gerwig continues to be inspired by the city she grew up in. Production on "Lady Bird" will begin next spring with Scott Rudin among the producers.