After years of being the indie queen in other people’s movies – notably and frequently Noah Baumbach – Greta Gerwig is lining up her solo director debut in the form of comedy-drama Lady Bird. She co-directed the 2008 drama Nights and Weekends alongside indie hit director Joe Swanberg.
Deadline reports that Gerwig will direct Lady Bird based on her first solo written screenplay. Naturally you’d think that she’d also want to take the lead role of a woman’s experiences during her last year in Sacramento but apparently is NOT looking to star in it. Evidently she wants to put all her focus on the direction without letting herself get in the way on camera, so to speak.
The film will be financed by IAC Films, who’ve recently had success with Baumbach’s While We’re Young, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice and Chris Rock’s directorial debut Top Five. Scott Rudin, the prolific and successful producer behind everything from The Truman Show to The Grand Budapest Hotel, will produce the film alongside Eli Bush and Evelyn O’Neill.
Gerwig recently found success with Frances Ha, the screenplay for which she co-wrote with Baumbach. She has repeated that collaboration on the upcoming Mistress America. She has many other starring projects in the works including dramedy Maggie’s Plan, alongside Ethan Hawke, Julianne Moore and Maya Rudolph; and she’ll star alongside Annette Benning, Elle Fanning and Billy Crudup in Mike Mills’ 20th Century Women.
I’ve been a fan of Gerwig ever since I saw her in The House of the Devil back in 2009 and I’m excited to see her find her cinematic voice on her own behind the camera.
Lady Bird is set to start shooting next March.
Source: Deadline