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- How much does autobiography come into your films?
One of them seems to be very autobiographical.
And now you've made "Little Women", which seems not to be.
Is that true?
- [Greta] Well, I think for me, for "Little Women",
that book meant so much to me, and it was a book that I,
I don't ever remember not knowing
who the March sisters were.
I always knew who Jo March was,
I always knew those sisters and that mother
and those adventures and they still became
part of the inner landscape of myself.
They felt like my memories.
So, in a lot of ways, it didn't feel that different to me.
The book had become part of me.
It feels quite personal.
I mean, it feels like autobiography, also,
I mean, the scene I choose to, sort of, open my film with,
I start with them as adults, and then childhood
becomes a thing that you go back to
because it was the last time everyone was together,
and that you were happy in this way,
and you felt like anything was possible.
And adults have more limited options.
And I felt like, if I could somehow address
that reflexivity in the narrative of my film,
it both mirrors what I go through,
because you're always making something
that's away from you but part of you.
And then, you know the scene of her selling a,
trying to sell a story,
I took that almost verbatim from the book
because I know exactly what that is.
To sit in front of somebody and try and sell them a story.
And they're telling me I need to make changes,
and I'm figuring out how many changes I can make
and still live with myself, but I need the money.
You know, that's something I understand,
and also, these characters are so close to me.
So, I don't know, I sort of felt like I needed a chart
to explain that, but I think I got it across.
(laughs)
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- I think, I know, I think Spielberg
looked at the film and gave you some ideas.
- Yes, he did (laughs).
- [Stephen] Well, what notes did he give you?
- Oh, he gave me great notes.
I met him over the course of, a couple of years ago.
He had The Post and I, we were both talking
and I found him to be so generous and interesting,
and totally willing to talk to me.
And I, you know, I was going to go prep "Little Women"
and he'd shot Lincoln, and it took place the same year,
I mean, it's the same world.
And he opened up every piece of research he had done.
He had how he'd decided to light things
given that it was all candlelight,
how had he decided to shoot interiors.
He opened the camera he actually shot Jurassic Park with,
but he had me smell celluloid because
he said you have to shoot on film, it smells different.
He's like, "You cannot shoot a story that takes place
"in 1861 digitally.
"You just can't, I won't let you do it".
And so, I actually did end up shooting on film
and I, and when Tom Rothman asked me why, I said,
"I'm, Steven Spielberg had me smell a camera!"
(laughter)
But then, you know, I showed him the film and he did,
what he did, which was so incredible, is that he,
he talked to me, for a long time,
and what he did was he gave it back to me.
He talked through the film from his memory,
and gave his notes as he remembered the movie.
So it's almost like he did the reverse back to me,
of giving me back the movie.
And he gave me, I ran different ideas by him and he gave me-
and then he'd re-give it back to me.
He'd say "Okay, so what you're saying is"
and then he'd explain it again to me.
And it's just, it feels like such an honor
to be able to talk with someone who's so,
thinks about how do we tell stories
and how do we bring people in to the stories.
And it's just, it's not one thing, it's everything.
About how you talk through it and communicate it.
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I like set and I like being on set.
I mean I feel, I feel very deeply
that movies are made in prep.
By the time you're on set it's too late,
it's happening.
I feel quite vividly that every second you spend
doing one thing, is a second you don't spend
doing something else.
Now, that's true for your entire life,
but I feel it most vividly on a film set.
And kind of always, is asking "is it good enough, can you-?"
You never feel like you got it but maybe
it's gonna be good enough and I don't know.
Whatever the negotiation of time and art is,
it's absurd to have a timed art form.
- Exactly, yeah.
- But it's also beautiful to have a timed art form
because we're all on a timer.
I mean, in the big timer (laughter).
- Yeah exactly, yes.
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