‘Lady Bird’ First Look: Greta Gerwig Makes Her Directorial Debut With A Rebellious Saoirse Ronan

Included among IndieWire’s 25 indie movies you must see this fall movie season is “Lady Bird,” which marks a monumental step forward in the constantly-surprising career of Greta Gerwig. The 34-year-old actress has appeared in numerous indie films, and she’s even co-written “Mistress America” and “Frances Ha” with Noah Baumbach, but she’s never directed a feature on her own until “Lady Bird” (she co-directed “Nights and Weekends” with Joe Swanberg).

The movie, which stars Saoirse Ronan as a rebellious Sacramento high schooler who dreams of escaping her family and small town to go to college in New York, will be hitting the fall festivals, first premiering at TIFF before making its way to NYFF. A24 is planning an awards push with a November 10 release date.

Ronan has been Oscar-nominated twice in her career, as Best Actress for “Brooklyn” and Supporting Actress for “Atonement,” and she should make the ideal lead for Gerwig’s directorial feature debut. The writer-actor-director knows a thing or two about writing multi-dimensional female characters (see Frances Ha and Tracy Fishko) and it’s safe to assume she’s written a winner for Ronan.

Get your first look at “Lady Bird” in the photos above and below.