plucked straight from the text in the best way,
with siblings fighting like siblings, love and loss
and hope and pain vividly experienced on screen.
Ronan and Chalamet’s charming big sister–
little brother dynamic is not unlike the one that
Jo and Laurie share in Little Women. Watch the
actors play off one another, and the film’s tender
realism clarifies itself: Their on-camera intimacy
is just as palpable behind the scenes. Indeed,
after shooting Lady Bird for a few weeks, the pair
hung out regularly over the next year, making the
awards-circuit rounds and scoring lead-acting
Oscar nominations—Ronan for
Lady Bird, Chalamet for Call Me by
Your Name—before swiftly signing
on to Little Women. In advance of
filming in Concord, Mass. (the
actual setting of the book), Gerwig
and producer Amy Pascal gathered
the large production’s cast and
crew for rehearsals at a house just
outside the town. For Ronan and
Chalamet, the contrast between
this and their early Lady Bird days
was immense. “I felt very prideful...
about how big it had gotten, how
many people were there,” Chalamet
recounts. “On Lady Bird it was, like,
25 people hanging out in a house!”
They fell back into each other’s
rhythms instantly. “He keeps me on
my toes—I’m never quite sure what
he’s going to do next,” Ronan says.
“That only progressed more and
grew more. It helped that we do have
a very natural rapport with each
other.... These two characters physi-
cally need to be very comfortable
with one another. They’re literally
intertwined for half the film.” Cha-
lamet adds: “In the least clichéd way
possible, it really doesn’t feel like
[I’m] acting sometimes [with her].”
Chalamet credits Gerwig, too, for
establishing a playful, comfortable
atmosphere. He thinks back to his
first day of rehearsal: He reunited
with Ronan. He introduced himself
to Emma Watson (who plays the
eldest March sister, Meg). He was
guided into a third-floor conference
room of a “random building ”
where, “all of a sudden, there was a
full dance class going on.” He recalls
fondly: “Everyone breaks down and
becomes a little kid. This job is so
trippy in that regard—you want to
be serious, you want to be profes-
sional, and then it’s almost best
when you’re able to be 12 years old.
When it’s someone you’re actually
friends with, it makes it easier.”
Ronan smirks, gearing up for a
jab: “We’re not friends!” Delighted,
Chalamet keeps the bit going. “We’re
not friends,” he says, solemnly. For
once, they’re not very convincing.“I was at apoint whereI was ableto pushmyself moreand notbe afraid.”
—SAOIRSE RONAN