English teachers across America were probably aghast to hear that all of Twitter was dominated by excitement over Louisa May Alcott's Little Women on Tuesday, and they have Saoirse Ronan and Timothée Chalamet in the film's new trailer to thank. The actors star as Jo and Laurie, respectively, in Greta Gerwig's adaptation of the classic novel, and it sounds like their chemistry is going to inspire all of us to revisit AP Lit.
“There is some true pairing between them that feels like what’s in the tradition of great cinematic pairings,” Gerwig told People and Entertainment Weekly about the stars. “They have an energy between them that is like they become a bonfire when they’re together. They’re both so alive and they’re both so talented and so smart and so young. When you put them together it’s like combustion.”
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The two previously played opposite each other in another Gerwig hit, Lady Bird, and are both beloved names in the film community. Chalamet generated Oscar buzz for his work in Call Me By Your Name and Beautiful Boy over the past few years, and Ronan received her first nod when she was just 13 thanks to the 2008 film Atonement. The two young icons plus Gerwig seems to be the foolproof recipe for a universally beloved indie film, but the director is quick to pour praise back on her actors.
"I don’t know what they do — I mean, it’s magic," she told Entertainment Weekly. "I direct them, but it’s all there." Or at least, it will be when the film hits theaters on December 25.
Just because because you know you're about to go watch it again, here's the Little Women trailer below.