"20th Century Women" Star Greta Gerwig Says Tilda Swinton Is Her Style Icon

Her film just earned a Golden Globe nomination and is a favorite come Oscar time. But ask Greta Gerwig how she feels about those endless red carpets that usually go hand in manicured hand with starring in a critically acclaimed drama, and you get the kind of refreshingly candid response that’s fairly rare in self-referential Hollywood.

“I think I have lost my mind. It’s really stressful,” she says, pausing, and then getting real.

“But I don’t know if you know this, but it was an election year. It’s lovely to be part of the filmmaking community and it’s lovely to see artists making important work that is the antidote to the hatred we saw come out of this election cycle. So really, this (expletive) does not matter. It’s nice to celebrate it and its important to celebrate it but we have bigger fish to fry. That’s why some perspective is important. That being said, I’m thrilled to be part of it.”

She has an equally balanced perspective about her red-carpet style. Gerwig gives full credit to Cristina Ehrlich, who dresses her in bright, standout pieces from Suno and Balenciaga and Roksanda. The one thing you’ll never catch her in: a painfully tight and corseted mermaid gown, the often-dreaded but almost unavoidable staple of awards season.

“She knows I like things that are somewhat off,” says Gerwig of her stylist. “When she presents things, she presents new and up-and-coming designers. What would no one else wear? She knows that I would be interested in wearing that. My style icons are Tilda Swinton and Cate Blanchett. The women who, and I mean this as the highest compliment, can look like androgynous aliens but also gorgeous women.”

Gerwig, 33, herself is getting noticed in a big way in “20th Century Women,” as an artist with relationship issues and fertility woes, living in a house-share with a single mom (Annette Bening). Their bond is neither tragicomic nor needy; it’s based on respect and likability and some frayed nerves when Gerwig’s Abbie gets too involved emotionally with Bening’s teenage son.

To Gerwig, Bening is the be-all end-all of what it means to be a working actress whose resume is based on nothing but her own decisions. “I’ve always admired her. She’s continued to make great, interesting choices that are not expected or careerist — she works towards what makes her interested and alive. It’s the career I hope to have,” she says.

Gerwig is a former ballerina who hails from California, studied English and philosophy at Barnard and got her start in the lo-fi mumblecore genre. She writes (or co-writes, with partner Noah Baumbach) much of her own material. This year in particular has been major for her; she played a single woman wanting a child on her own terms in “Maggie’s Plan” and Jackie Kennedy’s social secretary in “Jackie.” Plus, she directed her own film, “Lady Bird,” starring Saoirse Ronan as a high schooler plotting to escape Sacramento.

In typically understated style, Gerwig calls the past 12 months “really wild. It’s extraordinary. I had a very lucky year. I can’t believe that I’ve gotten to do four films that I adore. I adore the directors.”

In previous interviews, Gerwig said the key to her success wasn’t some innate sense of a genius script, but a talent for edging through doors that weren’t entirely open. She still sticks to that.

“I’ve had a tremendous amount of luck. I keep getting luck, which I’m so grateful for. There never comes a time where you stop needing to push for things. Especially if it’s something you really want. You want to do something new and that takes some pushing,” she says. “I’m constantly pushing doors open or building little side entrances. I’m always doing that.”

That being said, she’s thankful that bank accounts no longer impact the scripts she picks. She’s also equally aware, unlike some of the obtuse women she’s played, that nothing lasts forever. “I do at this minute have enough freedom to have a choice. That’s not something I always had. You get a little bit of financial freedom and you don’t have to take every job that comes your way. I try to make that last as long as I can. Make it as meaningful as I can,” she says.

It’s why she likens wrapping a movie to a breakup. “I hate leaving roles behind. It’s hard. It doesn’t have a place in normal life to say that you’re mourning a fictional character. Playing Abbie taught me to speak only when I have to. It creates an urgency in your acting. I tried to approach Abbie like that. There’s a certain silence to the character,” she says.

But never to Gerwig, or her creative flow.