Greta Gerwig didn't imagine her Little Women adaptation would get green-lit

In an interview with BBC News, the acclaimed Lady Bird director said she didn’t imagine the film would get green-lit due to its timescale, multiple plotlines and many characters.

"I feel very lucky and very grateful that this even got made, because it just seems like so unlikely,” she said. “Studios don't make period movies about sisters based on books. It's a very unusual movie to have happen."

There have been six prior adaptations of Louisa May Alcott’s masterpiece, with the most recent coming in 1994, while there have also been numerous TV versions – including a BBC production that was broadcast over the Christmas period in 2017.

Gerwig added that many of 19th century novel's themes are very much relevant to today’s society.

“The themes underneath the book are authorship, ownership, women, money, art and ambition, and those are totally modern, totally pressing themes," she said.

This version of Little Woman boasts a terrific cast, with Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh, Emma Watson, Timothée Chalamet and Meryl Streep all part of the ensemble.

Little Women is in UK cinemas on Boxing Day 2019