I hate California.
I want to go to the east coast.
I want to go where culture is, like New York.
How in the world did I raise such a snob?
Or at least Connecticut or New Hampshire
where writers live in the woods.
You couldn't even get into those schools anyway.
Mom!
Mark.
The mother daughter relationship
is the central love story.
I don't know a single woman
who doesn't have the most complicated,
crazy, beautiful relationship with their mother.
I want you to be
the very best version of yourself that you can be.
What if this is the best version?
Greta was really available
for questions that we had about her life specifically,
but only in a sense because it's all, you know,
it's not her, really, in the movie.
The film, in a way,
was inspired by events from my own life.
None of it actually happened, but it's all true.
You live in the neighborhood?
No, I'm from the wrong side of the tracks.
But I tend to start with things from my own life
and then pretty quickly,
they spin out into their own orbit.
Ladybird, is that your given name?
Yeah.
Why is it in quotes?
I gave it to myself, it's given to me by me.
Cut, okay, let's do it again, yeah.
There was a certain privilege
and luxury in working with directors who act.
There was such a specific tonality to what Greta wanted.
A comedic realism that serves realism first
and comedy second.
I hadn't seen her do anything like that before.
I just wanted it to be special.
Why?
You're gonna have so much unspecial sex in your life.
Greta's got a really good appreciation
for every aspect of the filmmaking process.
All the inspiration starts from the actors, so like,
I want to give them this space to play.
In a big ensemble movie, you don't have a ton of time,
like, real estate wise with every person,
so every scene needs to be impactful.
You can't do anything
unless you're the center of attention, can you?
Yeah, well you know your mom's tits, they're fake!
Totally fake!
She made one bad decision at 19!
Two bad decisions!
For me, the most rewarding thing
was watching the actors say the words I had written,
watching the actors bring these people to life.
If you're tired, we can sit down.
I'm not tired.
You were dragging your feet.
You are so infuriating.
Please stop yelling.
I'm not yelling.
Oh, it's perfect.
Do you love it?
She was just really wonderful
at encouraging us to really incorporate who we were
personally into the characters.
You have a performative streak.
This won't mess with my scholarship, will it?
You'd never know that it was her first solo directing job.
I love to work with people who are all about the work,
and yet, she knows when to drop all that
and be playful and creative,
joke around with crew and cast on the set.
Collapse, like a little closer!
Come over and collapse a little bit closer!
Collapse that way!
Go, yeah, yeah, yeah!
Follow Saoirse, Lucas get up, follow her!
Okay!
Go left, go left!
Go left!
Now go get him!
And Lucas, come over to her.
Come close!
And kiss her.
There's one scene where Greta let the camera roll
and it just made the experience into something
that was more three dimensional than how it was written.
I am still in the middle of learning
a lot about directing,
and I just couldn't believe
that these wildly talented people
were dedicating their gifts to this movie.
I felt very at home.
The whole thing was like a trial by fire,
but it was honestly the best time I've ever had.
And cut.
Great.