by Tim Gordon
With her directorial debut generating serious awards consideration, film critic and colleague Travis Hopson and I sat down with Greta Gerwig to discuss her semi-biographical film, Lady Bird, and a plethora of other topics during the Middleburg Film Festival.
Earlier in the day, Gerwig had joined several other women filmmakers to salute “The Year of the Women” in Film. She exuded a cool, easy-going vibe as she appeared to truly enjoy talking about her latest project that not only has been getting rave reviews but is so near and dear to her sensibilities and an artist and person.
Through her collaboration with Noah Bambach, Gerwig’s profile has grown but her amazing work in 20th Century Women gave her wider accessibility. Her latest film, Lady Bird is set in Sacramento over the 2002-03 school year focuses on a high school senior, Christine McPherson (who prefers to go by the name “Lady Bird”), and her turbulent relationship with her overbearing mother and other people in her life.
Check out her responses below in our interview with this rising star . . .
Gerwig discusses the journey of getting the film out to audiences as well as the fine line between the character and screen and her
Gerwig talks about the ability to direct herself on-screen, the love story between the mother and daughter in the film and her desire to leave the nest, much like her character in the film.
Gerwig elaborates on the how many “fragments of her” are included in the story, her character’s experience with love and the huge strides women storytellers have overcome.
