Have Yourself A Merry ‘Little Women’ Christmas
Greta Gerwig’s 2019 adaptation of the classic Louisa May Alcott novel Little Women is one of our all-time favorites, and a big reason for that is just how Christmasy it is.
The person largely responsible for that look is Jess Gonchor, the film’s Academy Award-nominated production designer whose other credits include No Country for Old Men, Inside Llewyn Davis, Moneyball, The Devil Wears Prada, and many other films.
We spoke with Jess about how he achieved the film’s uniquely cozy look and his 4 tips for how to deck your halls like the March family, as told to Cinema Sugar’s Kevin Prchal.
1. Embrace organic decor
The March family didn’t have a lot of resources, so with every color and piece of material in that house, the way it was stained and painted became one with the terrain. And that’s something I tried to really bring into the movie.
I tried to make everything we brought in obtainable within a couple hundred yards of the house. I also didn’t want to upstage anything, because they’re poor in contrast to the other houses, which were much more sophisticated and richer and brighter in tone and had a lot of artificial things. So I just tried to make things have contrast in the house, but not over-contrasted.
If a color didn’t exist in nature, it was forbidden from the house.
2. Allow your house to be lived in
I tried to have as many projects going on as possible. So there’s some painting in the corner, there’s signs of someone playing the piano, signs that somebody’s doing something in the attic. Because a house that’s not lived in is not a warm house.
I really tried to make the movie feel cozy and warm and inviting. I wanted people to feel like they wanted to live in there, whether it was just for the holidays or not. So a lot of corners, a lot of angles and ceilings, colors, and working fireplaces.
We really ramped it up for the holidays with all of the food and baked goods. Somebody once told me they could actually smell how wonderful the house would smell just from watching the movie, and that was a nice compliment.
Photos from the set of Little Women
Courtesy of Jess Gonchor. Tap or click to enlarge.
3. Make it Instagram-worthy
We took a few liberties because with the real March house there was no electricity obviously, so everything was gas-lit and we tried to use the fireplace and candles with beautiful lighting to light the sets. Some of the wallpapers in there were probably a bit richer and brighter and a bit more sophisticated patterns than they would have had back then, but I think that brought something to the story. It wouldn’t have been something that was completely out of order, but we had to make it a little bit more photogenic than it really was.
I was always thinking of sort of Instagram-able moments. Everything you do now has to be Instagram-worthy, so I tried to think, “If these girls had cellphones, what would they be posting?”
I had a decorator named Claire Kaufman and food stylist named Christine Tobin, and they were a big part of that. And the producer, Amy Pascal, this was her baby and she loves the holidays, so she was always coming up with a lot of great ideas too.
4. But don’t go overboard
We all like to go overboard with whatever holiday we’re celebrating, whether it’s Christmas or Hanukkah or anything. There’s just so much food around, so many gifts, and so much excess. And even though those girls didn’t have very much, we wanted to show that they were all on board and wanted to bring as much joy to the house as possible.
And even though that house was packed, I think less is more too. In the house there was a beginning and an end to the decorations, so there was a resting place for your eyes. It wasn’t 360 degrees of decorations—that’s too much. So just pick your spots.
I like to have one thing that’s the focus in a room and then build around that. So the fireplace during the holidays is a great place to sort of build the world around.