Two-time Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan, who has fast become one of the frontrunners going into next month’s Academy Awards following her heart-wrenching turn in Brooklyn, has joined the cast of Greta Gerwig’s directorial debut, Lady Bird.
Working from her own script, Gerwig’s first trip behind the lens will have the Irish actress play the part of a high-school senior living in Sacramento. Beyond that, though, details of the plot are being kept under lock and key.
Deadline broke the news and reveals that IAC Films is lending financial support to the feature film, which will be produced by Scott Rudin, Eli Bush and Evelyn O’Neill. That’ll pave the way for something of a reunion for Rudin and Ronan, given that the pair will collaborate later this year when the latter makes her Broadway debut for Arthur Miller’s The Crucible.
Gerwig, on the other hand, first rose to fame via Noah Baumbach’s comedy Greenberg in 2010, before co-writing some of Baumbach’s later features including Frances Ha and Mistress America. As Deadline points out, Lady Bird will mark the first time that the actress-cum-director has also penned her own script, so it’ll be interesting to watch her vision come to pass now that Gerwig has cast what we presume to be her lead role.
No word yet on when Gerwig and IAC plans to nudge Lady Bird into production, but you can keep up-to-date with Saoirse’s Ronan Oscar charge when the Academy Awards take place on February 28. As for Gerwig, she’ll next be seen opposite Natalie Portman in Jackie.