Trailer
Plot summary
The March family lives in Concord, Massachusetts, while the Civil War keeps Mr. March away from home as a chaplain. Their mother, Marmee, raises the four daughters in reduced circumstances. Meg is the responsible oldest sister, Jo is tempestuous and wants to write, Beth is tender and plays the piano, and Amy is the romantic youngest. The sisters perform Jo's plays in their attic theater. When a wealthy neighbor's grandson, Theodore Laurence, called Laurie, comes to live next door, he becomes a close friend of the family, particularly of Jo, and his grandfather, Mr. Laurence, takes an interest in Beth's piano playing.
Cast
- Florence Patersonas Hannah
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Little Women (1994)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Little Women took 12 years to find a studio; writer Robin Swicord and producer Denise Di Novi said the industry reaction was that "people just weren't interested in a movie with a lot of women".
- Casting Amy March was the hardest decision of the production: this adaptation was the first and only one to have two different actresses play Amy over the course of the film.
- Natalie Portman, then unknown, and Thora Birch, who had already filmed Hocus Pocus and Patriot Games, read for the part of Amy March; Kirsten Dunst was chosen instead.
- The older Amy was a close decision between Reese Witherspoon and Samantha Mathis; Armstrong's first pick, had the production cast only one actress for Amy, was Witherspoon, but casting director Carrie Frazier settled on Mathis.
- The first candidate for Professor Bhaer was Hugh Grant, whom Di Novi said "we all had a huge crush on", but he was deemed too young and confident; John Turturro lobbied persistently, and Gabriel Byrne was cast.
- Offers for Marmee and Laurie went to Susan Sarandon and Christian Bale; Sarandon almost turned the role down because it came at the end of the school year and she had a strict policy about not leaving her young kids.
- The film's look was based on photographs, paintings and drawings of the Civil War era, when the novel was written; cinematographer Geoffrey Simpson, art director Jan Roelfs and costume designer Colleen Atwood drew on the era's artworks for sets, costumes and even camera lighting.
