Greta Gerwig has been an actress for over a decade, but she announced herself as a serious filmmaking talent as well with last year's Lady Bird, for which she received multiple Oscar nominations. For her follow up, Greta Gerwig is writing and directing a remake of Little Women, based on the 19th century novel from Louisa May Alcott. Among the film's leads was set to be Oscar winner Emma Stone, but she has since dropped out of the project. Fortunately, it didn't take long to find a replacement, and now Emma Watson is being lined up to take Emma Stone's place in Greta Gerwig's Little Women.
It is unclear why exactly Emma Stone was unable to join Little Women, but once it became known that she would not be in the film, Sony moved to land Emma Watson. According to Variety, roles are still being worked out, and although Emma Watson will be taking on the role originally intended for Emma Stone, it's not yet known what part that will be. For what it's worth, when news of Emma Stone's casting first broke, it was reported that she would be playing Meg March, the role played by Trini Alvarado in the popular 1994 adaptation of Little Women. So we'll have to see if Emma Watson is indeed Meg or one of the other March sisters.
Ironically, this isn't the first time that Hollywood's two most famous Emma's have done the old switcheroo with their roles. Emma Watson was originally supposed to star in La La Land, opposite Miles Teller, but scheduling conflicts with Beauty and the Beast proved too difficult to overcome. The role ultimately went to Emma Stone, which worked out pretty well for her with that golden statue she took home. Emma Watson, on the other hand, got to star as a beloved Disney princess in a movie that made over a billion dollars, so victories all around. Now we have the opposite situation where Emma Watson is taking over for Emma Stone in a project from a director on the rise.
By landing Emma Watson, Columbia Pictures' Little Women maintains the star power of its cast that also includes Timothée Chalament, Meryl Streep and Greta Gerwig's Lady Bird star, Saoirse Ronan. Greta Gerwig will write and direct the adaptation of the American classic about four sisters coming of age in post-Civil War America. The first volume of Louisa May Alcott's novel turned 150 this year, and there have been multiple adaptations seemingly timed to this anniversary. There was a Masterpiece mini-series on PBS earlier this year and there is actually a modern retelling from director Clare Niederpruem hitting theaters in September.
Greta Gerwig's Little Women is scheduled to start production next month for release on Christmas Day, 2019. For movies heading to theaters this year, check out our release guide.
