Timothée Chalamet was the only choice to play Laurie in the forthcoming Little Women as he is “handsome but beautiful”, filmmaker Greta Gerwig has revealed.
Chalamet is one of a number of stars who appear in Gerwig’s adaptation of the Louisa May Alcott novel, along with Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Meryl Streep and Laura Dern.
Speaking yesterday (2 November) at the Teen Vogue Summit (via the Hollywood Reporter), Gerwig revealed that she was interested in exploring the “androgyny” of the novel’s principal characters Jo and Laurie, and that Chalamet’s looks played an integral role in his casting.
“There’s all this neat gender stuff about it, like Laurie is a boy with a girl’s name and Jo is a girl with a boy’s name,” Gerwig said. “I have them the whole movie swap clothing and they are each other’s androgynous twin.”
“[Chalamet] was always the person to play this part for me because he has that — he’s handsome but he’s also beautiful,” Gerwig continued. “And Saoirse is beautiful, but she’s also handsome. To me, he was always the Laurie.”
The film stars Ronan as aspiring writer Jo March, who rejects ideas of marriage and romance in favour of pursuing her creative dreams.
It is Gerwig’s follow-up to the Oscar-winning coming-of-age comedy Lady Bird, which also starred Ronan and Chalamet.
Little Women is released in the UK on the 27 December.
