Golden Hour

Actress and screenwriter Greta Gerwig has been called an indie queen, a muse and the voice of a generation. But as her new movie Lady Bird proves, director is the title that suits her best

- Lucy Pavia

Want to hear a pretty depressing stat? In the Oscars’ 89-year history, out of 245 people nominated for the Best Director award, only four have been women. And only one of those four – Kathryn Bigelow – has actually won.

Can Greta Gerwig chip her way into the ultimate boys’ club with her directorial debut, Lady Bird? It’s still too early to say when we meet at a London hotel on a particularly freezing day just before Christmas. Lady Bird arrives in UK cinemas this month and is already a runaway success in the US – officially the best-reviewed movie of 2017*, it won two Golden Globes (though notably not for Best Director, as Natalie Portman points out by introducing the ‘all male’ Best Director category). Yet, on the prospect of a little gold statue, Gerwig’s not counting any chickens, reaching from the sofa in her hotel suite to touch the nearest piece of wood. Two of the film’s stars, Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf, are also tipped for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress nods. ‘I’m proud that Saoirse and Laurie are getting so much love for the film,’ she says. ‘My heart bursts. They feel like my children, even though that really doesn’t make any sense.’