Emma Watson Talks Taylor Swift and Jo March in New Interview

Little Women premiered this week to rave reviews, and our own Emma Watson is at the forefront. Though she plays Meg in Greta Gerwig’s adaptation, anyone who follows Watson’s feminist advocacy won’t be surprised to find out that she actually identifies most with Jo March, played by Saoirse Ronan.

The role that I play is a really important kind of foil, or counterbalance to Jo, and I loved playing that, but I definitely resonate the most with Jo.

Jo’s story shows a woman defiantly asserting her place in a field of men, especially as she tries to publish her novel. Watson likened Jo’s fight to own the copyright to her book to Taylor Swift’s legal battle with Scooter Braun over the rights to her music:

It’s about believing in yourself and knowing your worth and owning your worth. Right now, the Taylor Swift situation is a great example of, you know, you’re young and you’re talented and someone wants to buy your work, but having ownership at the end of the day is super, super important because you don’t know what someone’s going to decide to do with that.

Of course, Little Women has two incredible women behind its story: Louisa May Alcott, the book’s author, and director Greta Gerwig, whom Watson praised for her empathy and skill on set. She and costars Ronan, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, James Norton, Meryl Streep, Laura Dern, and Timothée Chalamet all gave their accounts of working with the acclaimed director and each other in a series of interviews with Hollywood Insider, where Watson explained how innovative Gerwig’s style of directing is:

A lot of the time, on a take, I would see her not even watch us acting it, but she would just be listening to how it sounded, like a piece of music that sounded right to her. And that was an amazing way to work. And so the scenes have this pace to them that I don’t think anyone will have seen before.

Check out the full interview below, and be sure to catch Emma Watson in Little Women.