T
THEY MAY BE POSING IN AN AIRY
lower Manhattan studio, but Timo-
thée Chalamet and Saoirse Ronan
have a way of making you feel right
at home. “I made a little playlist this
morning,” Chalamet announces
to the room. He syncs up his cell
phone to the sound system, his boy-
ish grin widening as Marvin Gaye’s
“What’s Going On” starts blaring. He
returns to the camera, which snaps
him and Ronan at a furious pace.
It’s their first joint cover shoot.
He’s wearing a shimmery striped
shirt with high-waist trousers; she’s
rocking a shirtdress, fishnet stock-
ings, and clear stilettos. He keeps
cracking her up; she musses his
hair with doting affection. During a
break that follows, he wanders,
gripping a paper bag stuffed with
assorted bagels—from Tompkins
Square Bagels, which Chalamet, a
lifelong New Yorker, insists are
the best in the city—and offering
one to anyone in his path. He sings
and dances—very Elio-in-the-
town-square-like—to Bob Dylan’s
“Tombstone Blues.” He creeps
behind a distracted Ronan before
spooking her with a yelp. “I didn’t
even know you were there!” she
exclaims, reddening from the fright
but with a smile so lovingly at ease,
you sense she’s used to the prank.
They’ve known each other, after
all, for some time. About three
years ago, Ronan, now 25, and Cha-
lamet, 23, met filming Lady Bird,
Greta Gerwig ’s solo directorial
debut, in which Ronan’s irrepress-
ible heroine ( briefly) romances
Chalamet’s douchey amateur
musician. They reunited with Ger-
wig last year, on the heels of Lady
and Douglass Montgomery, Winona Ryder and
Christian Bale, and so many others—yet finds,
in the hands of two of the most compelling
actors of their generation, galvanizing new life.
That goes, in fact, for the whole of Gerwig ’s
Little Women. Her version certainly contains the
snow-globe coziness of treasured adaptations
past, but also carries a fizzy emotional authentic-
ity and attention to detail. The film is remarkably
lived-in, too: This take on Louisa May Alcott’s
1868 novel, which follows Jo and her three sis-
ters pre– and post–American Civil War, feelsBird’s Oscar-nominated success,
for a bigger undertaking: a remake
of the oft-remade Little Women
(Dec. 25). Ronan and Chalamet
slipped into the roles of tomboyish
Jo March and buoyant Theodore
“Laurie” Laurence, best friends
who ultimately break each other’s
hearts. Their courtship ranks
among American culture’s oldest
tales of unrequited love—made
indelible by Katharine Hepburn