Beth March is the second youngest of the sisters and Jo's favorite. Beth is quiet and artistic. She spends most of the movie suffering from scarlet fever. We already love ethereal Elle Fanning for her fashion sense, but we think she'd look good if she took off the Rodarte and donned a hoop skirt.


Photo by Steven Pan, Interview, December 2010. 

We're tempted to re-cast Wynona Ryder in this role since it's hard to imagine anyone else as Jo March, but if forced, we choose Elizabeth Olsen. Jo is the rebellious sister: hot-tempered and darkly funny, she eschews social conventions for literature. Her male (gasp!) best friend, Laurie often calls her, "my dear fellow," and though he's in love with her, she rejects him (gasp!) for a much older professor. Elizabeth Olsen was exquisite in Martha Marcy May Marlene, and, though she played a shell-shocked former cult member, we detect the feistiness and wit necessary to pull off Jo.

Photo by Glen Luchford, Interview,  January 2012. 

Meg is the oldest March sister and the de facto mother of the bunch when Marmee is out of the picture. She's responsible and a bit restrained, which is why we think Olivia Thirlby would be perfect for the role. She's usually cast as the cooler-than-thou sexy offbeat girl (Juno, The Wackness, Nobody Walks), but we think she would like to see her change it up a bit and play the reserved one. Plus, she has the pale skin and dark hair we always associate with Meg.  

Perhaps the only one who can keep up with Jo, Theodore 'Laurie' Laurence is the boy next door: an orphan being raised by his grandfather as he prepares to go to Harvard. He's Jo's best friend, and when she rejects him (the horror) he ends up happily married to Amy. We get the feeling Dane DeHaan could play anyone, and we've already seen him on screen with Olsen in Kill Your Darlings.

Photo by Gregory Harris, Interview, August 2011. 

As the baby of the family, Amy is spoiled and a bit obnoxious. She throws tantrums, uses words she doesn't understand, and dramatically falls into frozen lakes. We haven’t seen much from Sophie Nélisse, but we hear she’s amazing in The Book Thief and she kind of reminds us of Kirsten Dunst, who killed it as Amy in ’94.

Marmee, the sisters' mother, is the moral center of the story. She teaches the girls to be charitable and virtuous. Melissa Leo is great at playing bad mothers—remember The Figher?—and we'd love to see her play a less morally ambiguous character. She'd bring some gravity to what could be a boring part.