Greta Gerwig Says All Her Movies Are "Talking to Each Other"
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After Barbie's opening weekend, Greta Gerwig made box office history for biggest opening weekend for a film directed by a woman.
"In some ways, all the movies I've co-written, written and directed are all talking to each other," Gerwig told W Magazine. "It is almost a mystery to me when I'm in the middle of it. And then when I step back, I think, 'Oh, you continue to be interested in women. This is something you're fascinated by.' That ache of contradictions, of never being able to totally bridge that gap between adulthood and childhood, is present in this movie, too. It's this overflowing sense of joy, and then it's also, 'I can never get back there.'"
Talking about what's next for her, she said, "I definitely want the skill set to be able to tell stories of different sizes. I want to be able to make tiny movies, big movies, and everything in between. It just takes so long to make any given one. That’s the only thing I feel limited by. You only get to make so many."
Below, how to catch up on Gerwig's filmography (including movies Gerwig has directed or written, which, as she says, are "all talking to each other").
Barbie (2023)
Barbie, the fantasy comedy film starring Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken, is in theaters now. "Things can be both/and," Gerwig told the New York Times about creating a film with Mattel, Barbie's parent company. "I’m doing the thing and subverting the thing."
Little Women (2019)
Gerwig adapted Louisa May Alcott's classic novel about four sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy. It was the seventh film adaption of Little Women, but Gerwig made it her own. "I read it again [at age 30], and I couldn't believe how modern and strange and urgent it was," she told NPR.The film stars Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, Laura Dern, Timothée Chalamet, Meryl Streep, Bob Odenkirk, and more.
Lady Bird (2017)
Gerwig's debut film as a solo filmmaker was Lady Bird, a coming-of-age tale about Christine "Lady Bird" McPherson (Saoirse Ronan) and her complicated relationship with her mom Marrion (Laurie Metcalf). Gerwig said the film was inspired by her own high school years but "nothing in the movie literally happened in my life, but it has a core of truth that resonates with what I know."
Mistress America (2015)
Mistress America, co-written by Gerwig and Noah Baumbach, is the story of a college freshman (Lola Kirke) who adventures around New York City with her future stepsister (Gerwig). "Nobody’s asking us to make these movies, so we don’t talk about them, I don’t think a studio would make these movies," Gerwig said of Mistress America and Frances Ha.
Frances Ha (2012)
Frances Ha, Gerwig's second film with Baumbach and first they co-wrote, is a black-and-white film about aspiring dancer Frances (played by Gerwig) who "meanders through the thrills and humiliations of her late twenties" in NYC alongside her best friend, Sophie (Mickey Sumer).
Nights and Weekends (2008)
Gerwig co-directed, co-wrote, and co-starred in Nights and Weekends with Joe Swanberg. The film follows a long-distance relationship as it dissolves. "The original idea was that we were going to make a movie about a happy couple," Gerwig told Vulture. "But then when we started shooting it, it became kind of clear that we were making another movie. We shot everything that we wanted to shoot for the original movie we’d planned, and then we got into a huge fight... We shot the second half of the movie a year after the first half, so it was a year later in our lives, and a year later in the characters' lives. It was a weird birthing process"
Hannah Takes the Stairs (2007)
Gerwig wrote this film with her early collaborator Joe Swanberg. The film features Hannah (played by Gerwig), a recent college graduate living in Chicago and in relationships with three different men.
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