How Greta Gerwig Will Forever Change Your Stance on ‘Little Women’s’ Amy

Meredith Woerner

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When pressed to pick a favorite among “Little Women’s” iconic March sisters, one sibling is usually rarely chosen … the youngest.

“I always hated Amy,” Beanie Feldstein revealed to Florence Pugh, who plays the divisive character in Greta Gerwig’s recent adaptation.

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“Then, miss, I watched this film and I was so blown away by your work, truly, so blown away,” Feldstein said during her chat with Pugh for Variety’s Actors on Actors. “You stood toe to toe with Jo, who is Saoirse [Ronan], who I know is hard to stand toe to toe with. You elevated that character to someone that I rooted for and that I loved, and that I was on her side and questioning why I was on her side. You could see that they were really mirrors of each other and sisters in that way.”

The Amy flip was exactly the kind of response Gerwig was aiming for on set.

“When I came to this job, Greta said, straight up, ‘Amy’s going to be more than just what she is in the books in this because I feel like she hasn’t had her voice.’ I have to say like I totally agree,” Pugh explained. “She is so easily and quickly the bratty sister. It’s so easy to read Jo as being like this hero and everybody wants to be Jo. But there’s also something being said for Amy, for a girl that knows at that time, the wisest thing to do is to richly marry, which is so odd for us, for women now to go, ‘yeah, you go, you marry that rich man.'”

Pugh emphasizes that these new iterations of Jo and Amy are actually quite similar.

“They’re both very stubborn and they are both very headstrong. They both want different things. But doesn’t mean that one of them is right and one of them is wrong,” Pugh said.

For more of Feldstein and Pugh’s breakdown of the literary classic, watch their full conversation here.

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