‘Little Women’ swaps Emma Stone for Emma Watson

Emma Watson at a March 2017 screening of “Beauty and the Beast”. Image: AFP/Angela Weiss via AFP Relaxnews

Already committed to promoting November 2018 English queen biopic “The Favourite”, Emma Stone of “La La Land” fame has departed Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women”, to be replaced by “Harry Potter” star Emma Watson.

Classic American novel “Little Women”, first published as a two-parter in 1868 and 1869, is due not one but two adaptations over the next year or so.

The first is the feature film directorial debut of actress Clare Niederpruem, already scheduled for late September 2018; the second has a little more time available, being Greta Gerwig’s third directed film, anticipated for December 2019.

Gerwig’s previous project, “Lady Bird”, produced five Oscar nominations, including those for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress.

Yet Emma Stone’s involvement in “The Favourite”, directed by another Oscar nominee in Yorgos Lanthimos, is already being tipped for awards season glory and its promotional tour overlaps with the production schedule for the Gerwig adaptation of “Little Women”.

So it is that Emma Watson, British star actress in the “Harry Potter” saga and, more recently, “Beauty and the Beast”, is joining the existing cast of “Little Women”, which includes Meryl Streep and Laura Dern of “Big Little Lies” as well as Saoirse Ronan and Timothée Chalamet, both previously of “Lady Bird”. JB

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