Meryl Streep and Greta Gerwig Have Emotional Mini Little Women Reunion at 2024 Cannes Film Festival

Meryl Streep received the honorary Palme d’Or at the festival

President of the Jury Greta Gerwig (C) and Jury Member Nadine Labaki (R) congratulate Meryl Streep for receiving the Honorary Palme DOr Award
Meryl Streep and Greta Gerwig at the Cannes Film Festival on May 14, 2024. Photo:

Andreas Rentz/Getty Images

Meryl Streep and Greta Gerwig caught up at the prestigious 2024 Cannes Film Festival.

On May 14, the Oscar-winning actress reunited with Gerwig, who last teamed up with her on the 2019 drama Little Women, during the opening ceremony. Streep was honored with the Palme d'Or award, and Gerwig is the festival's jury president this year.

"I love cinema and this is holy to me," Gerwig, 40, said at the festival. "Art is sacred and films are sacred, and I cannot believe that I am getting the opportunity to spend the next 10 days in this house of worship. I love nothing more than sitting in the dark and feeling a movie begin that's going to take me somewhere that I did not know and couldn't have predicted that that was the place I wanted to go. And then to get to discuss it, and think about it, and wrestle with it."

Actress Juliette Binoche got emotional onstage as she presented Streep, 74, with her honor.

"You changed the way we look at women in the cinema world," Binoche, 60, said through tears. "And also helped us to look at ourselves differently.

US actress Meryl Streep (C) receives the Honorary Palme d'Or next to French actress Juliette Binoche (L) and US director and president of the Jury of the 77th Cannes Film Festival
Juliette Binoche, Meryl Streep and Greta Gerwig at the Cannes Film Festival on May 14, 2024.

VALERY HACHE/AFP via Getty Images

The Palme d'Or, the festival's highest honor, has previously gone to the likes of Jane Fonda, Forest Whitaker and Clint Eastwood, with director George Lucas and Studio Ghibli also being celebrated this year.

Little Women, which Gerwig directed and Streep starred in as Aunt March, had a cast that also included Timothée Chalamet, Florence Pugh and Laura Dern. It earned six nominations at the Oscars and took home the trophy for Best Costume Design.

October 23, 2019- Meryl Streep, Florence Pugh, Writer/Director Greta Gerwig, Saoirse Ronan and Laura Dern seen at a Special Film Screening of LITTLE WOMEN
Meryl Streep, Florence Pugh, Greta Gerwig, Saoirse Ronan and Laura Dern on Oct. 23, 2019.

Eric Charbonneau/Getty Images

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Since the film, Streep has gone on to appear in such films as The Prom, Don't Look Up, and as recurring character Loretta Durkin in Hulu's Only Murders in the Building.

As for Gerwig, she directed the 2023 blockbuster Barbie — which earned eight nominations at the Oscars and won Best Original Song for Billie Eilish's "What Was I Made For?"

Earlier this year, Streep praised Billie Eilish and Finneas for delivering "the Barbie love bomb" at the Palm Springs International Film Awards.

"You've saved the movies, last summer. All of our jobs," the three-time Oscar winner said. "You've delivered joy to countless generations and genders of people, and you should surf that wave, kids — until you are old and deserve to be jaded like me."

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