Kindred spirits Saoirse Ronan and Greta Gerwig join forces for new movie 'Lady Bird'

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Actress Saoirse Ronan felt an immediate bond with writer-director Greta Gerwig the first time they talked about making the movie "Lady Bird."

Ronan's character is a teenager named Christine, who has decided she wants to change her name and now be called "Lady Bird" - and this bird can't wait to fly the coop of her Sacramento family.

The two first read through the script together at the Toronto film festival in 2015, and the story blew Ronan away.

"I was in love with Greta and everything she had worked on beforehand," Ronan said. "So before I even read the script, I knew I wanted to do it, if she wanted me. I mean, I did! I had read it on my own, and then we Skyped, and we were ridiculously giddy with one another. I think it's a special thing when you meet someone you click with."

Gerwig agreed.

"As soon as she started saying the lines, I started getting ideas for how I wanted to shoot it and what kind of costumes I wanted her in, I started thinking about her hair," Gerwig said. "I feel like that's how you know it's right -iIdeas start hitting you."

Both Ronan and Gerwig seem to inspire each other. After watching Gerwig, Ronan is now thinking about expanding her own career.

"I probably wanted to direct before I wanted to act," she said. "But before I ever acted I would boss my friends about and force them to do these short films with me."

"Lady Bird" is in theaters now.