Greta Gerwig Wrote a Letter to Justin Timberlake Asking to Use His Music in Lady Bird

-One of the reasons that makes sense to me,
both that you would write and want to direct it,
is it´s so personal, and one of the things
that was interesting to me is you obviously set it closer
to when you grew up? -Yeah.
And so no cellphones, which was such a fun thing to watch,
a high school movie where cellphones is not a plot point.
-I know. You could not know where someone was.
-Yeah. -Which is amazing.
-Yeah, and so much more helpful for storytelling that you --
-Yes. Yeah.
For any story, it´s good to not know where anybody is.
-[ Laughing ] Yeah. -It´s a good thing.
-Well, because usually huge plot points
are either that person showing up or --
-Yes. Yeah. -Yeah.
-So, no, it was -- I actually -- I like on my film sets
and now I can say that, my one film set,
but -- I like -- nobody has cellphones anyway.
I don´t like having cellphones on set
because I think it helps the actors to concentrate.
But I had a young cast, like, you know, 18 to 22.
There were a lot of young people
and everyone was like, "Good luck with that."
Like, "they´ll never give up those phones,"
but I sold it to them as being about it´s an acting thing.
-Oh, and they bought in? -Yeah.
And I was like, "This is for your acting."
[ Laughter ]
And they were like, "Oh, great!"
-You also -- I thought this was really cool.
You have people -- you had your crew wear name tags?
-Yes.
-And not just their name.
There would be a different question --
A different answer every day?
-Yeah, well, there was a --
I had everyone wear name tags because I feel like for actors,
especially, if you´re coming in for like a day or two days,
it´s hard to get to know everyone,
and it made everybody a person.
So I had a name tag. Everybody had a name tag.
And then our -- there was a P.A. who was wonderful, Dayna,
who came up with the question of the day every day.
And it would be a trivia question
or sort of like a conversation starter,
like, "what was your go-to karaoke song?"
Or "what what would you do if you didn´t do this?"
Or "what is a movie that you know you should like
but you don´t?"
-What was a movie that you know you should like but you don´t?
-"Breakfast at Tiffany´s." -Oh, wow!
It´s so beautiful,
but there´s something about it that gives me the creeps.
And I don´t Know what it is.
I mean, Audrey Hepburn is glorious and I --
but it´s just true -- -Yeah.
-Yeah. [ Light laughter ]
-Look, if you´re creeped out, you´re creeped out.
That´s just -- there´s no getting around that.
-I really think that is true.
-Another thing that strikes me as it was very personal
was the music choices. -Yes.
-For those who don´t know,
when there´s a song you really want in a movie,
you have to get permission to use it.
And you personally reached out to some people via letters?
-Yes, I wrote some letters.
-Like, for example, there´s --
and I do feel like these songs were very --
they kind of had to be those songs.
-Yes, they had to -- I had written them into the script.
They were very specifically those songs.
-And so you wrote Alanis Morissette a nice letter.
And what were some of your selling points to her?
-Well, so, "I have been a fan of yours my whole life.
The very first cassette tape
I ever bought was ´Jagged Little Pill.´
I would listen to ´Perfect´ over and over in my living room,
memorizing the lyrics.
I remember bringing that same cassette to a sleepover party
where we all played our favorite songs for each other.
I played ´Hand in my Pocket´ because my mother told me
that ´Perfect´ might be a little too heavy
for a fifth grade slumber party."
[ Laughter ]
"I saw the film ´Dogma´ because I read that you played God,
which seemed totally fitting to me."
-Yeah, and you think "Breakfast at Tiffany´s" is creepy?
-Yeah, I know. [ Laughter ]
This is an example of my creepiness.
-No, but this was really great.
Wait, you have to -- You wrote Dave Matthews?
-Yes.
-And obviously you´ve moved on.
I like that you´ve moved on from cassettes to CDs.
because you knew you couldn´t tell him
it was his first cassette?
-Yeah, this is -- I say, "These were my very first CD purchases.
[ Laughter ]
And I made my dad take me to see you and your band perform
when you came to Sacramento."
So -- and I said -- I said that the song "Crash into Me,"
which is the song in the movie,
was the most romantic song ever, underlined.
[ Laughter ]
So I -- And I was -- And then I said,
"Thank you so much for considering the request.
I wish I could go back in time and tell my 16-year-old self
that this moment was coming.
She´d never believe me, but truth be told,
my 32-year-old self can hardly believe it either."
[ Laughter ]
-I like that the moment you can´t believe is
that you´re writing him a letter.
-I know. I can´t believe it. Can´t believe my letter.
-And Justin Timberlake, as well, and they all said yes.
-Yes! Oh, the Justin Timberlake --
That has a really awkward beginning.
-Oh, yeah, let´s -- -Yeah. Yeah.
-I got it here.
I like that you´re embracing your awkwardness.
-Okay, so, "Dear Mr. Timberlake --
[ Laughter ]
I mean, what can I say? You´re Justin Timberlake."
[ Laughter ]
"You were the soundtrack to my adolescence.
Your rise corresponded exactly with my very awkward puberty."
[ Laughter ]
-And then it just gets worse. -Yeah.
[ Laughter ]
Yeah. "I pretty much wouldn´t be an adult without you."
That´s the nicest thing you could say to anyone.
That´s heartbreak-- when your parents -- when they hear that,
they´ll be heartbroken.
-They´ll be like, "This was Justin Timberlake´s doing?
What were we doing all that time?"
-Well, I´m glad it paid off
because it´s hard now to imagine the film without those songs.
-Yeah.
-And congratulations on making such a beautiful film.
-Thank you, thank you. -Greta Gerwig, everybody.
Greta Gerwig's Childhood Antics Predicted Her Future as a Director Joe Biden's Birthday, Evil Bingo - Monologue Sexual Harassment in Congress: A Closer Look Amy Sedaris Shares Her Tips for Holiday Entertaining Trump vs. LaVar Ball; White House Sides with Roy Moore: A Closer Look New Day W/ Chris Cuomo 11/21/17| LaVar Ball denies being in a feud with Trump Amy Sedaris Reviews the Characters She Plays on At Home with Amy Sedaris BREAKING NEWS TRUMP 11/21/17 JUSTICE DEPT. SUES TO BLOCK AT&T-TIME WARNER DEAL Harassment on the Hill: How to Avoid Being a Congressional Predator: The Daily Show There is So Much They're Not Telling us About Mars!

Greta Gerwig Wrote a Letter to Justin Timberlake Asking to Use His Music in Lady Bird

Latest Posts