On the heels of landing her second Oscar nomination for her admired performance in the period drama Brooklyn (recently ranked on mxdwn’s Top Ten Films of 2015), Saoirse Ronan had been tapped to headline the comedy Lady Bird. The film is being both written and directed by Greta Gerwig. Scott Rudin is producing the film.
Lady Bird centers around a high school senior and her misadventures while on the cusp of adulthood in Sacramento, California (which happens to Gerwig’s hometown). Filming on Lady Bird appears set to start sometime this spring, the same time that Ronan will make her Broadway debut as Abigail in the upcoming revival of the stage classic The Crucible, of which Rudin also serves as a producer. For Ronan, this marks another potentially interesting leading role for the 21-year-old actress who first caught attention in the 2007 film Atonement– a film in which she earned her first Oscar nomination.
Ronan recently appeared in the Wes Anderson film The Grand Budapest Hotel and Ryan Gosling’s semi-infamous Lost River. Coming up, she will appear in Michael Mayer’s screen adaptation of the Chekhov mainstay The Seagull alongside a tony ensemble cast that includes Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right), Elisabeth Moss (Queen of Earth) and Corey Stoll (Black Mass).
For Gerwig, Lady Bird marks yet another notch on what’s been a busy few years. She last appeared on screen in Noah Baumbach’s comedy Mistress America (a film she co-wrote) and has full slate ahead, appearing in Rebecca Miller’s Maggie’s Plan, Todd Solondz’s Sundance bound Weiner-Dog, Mike Mills’ 20th Century Women and Pablo Larraín’s Jackie starring Natalie Portman. Gerwig previously starred and co-wrote Frances Ha (which was directed by Baumbach) and co-wrote and co-directed the little seen 2008 drama Nights and Weekends alongside indie mainstay Joe Swanberg (Drinking Buddies).
Lady Bird marks the first film that Gerwig wrote and will direct independently.
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