Home, family, sisterhood. Golden Globe-nominated Greta Gerwig believes those are the ingredients that make Little Women universally loved. And that’s why she brought Louisa May Alcott’s novel to the screen for the eighth time.  
“It is amazing because its popularity was instant. When it was published in 1868 it sold out in its initial printing in two weeks and it has since been translated into 52 languages. It has never been out of print since,” Gerwig told HFPA journalist Gabrielle Donnelly.

Gerwig’s parents used to read the book to her. “The first ten chapters are quite episodic and it is a very satisfying read every night. I loved it.”

Little Women is the story of four girls who want more than the world is able to give them at that moment. “I think that is something that we are still contending with and so much of the heart of the book could have been written yesterday. It’s about how to grow up and figure out who you are.”

Gerwig, who wanted to be a playwriter, ended up studying acting because she wasn’t accepted to study her dream profession. But she found her own way to write and direct movies, like Nights and Weekends and Lady Bird. “We are still figuring out how to make our stories heard and make them and also to continue to write the story of what it means to be a woman, a mother, a sister, a daughter, a citizen as someone who is female.”

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