Greta Gerwig thought she ruined 'Lady Bird' on her first day of filming.

Greta Gerwig

Greta Gerwig

The 36-year-old director made her debut with the 2017 coming-of-age flick, but feared she had messed up the entire film on day one after spotting a mistake during a scene.

She told Empire magazine: "I remember the very first day of shooting. I couldn't believe I was on a set, directing a movie.

"It's the thrill of my life. And I messed something up, which really stressed me out.

"[Saoirse Ronan] has the pink cast [on her arm], and we were shooting a scene in the classroom and I realised that we were in a part of the movie where she needed her pink cast.

"So we'd shot those whole side and I was like, 'No! We have to go back!' I thought, 'You've already ruined it on your first day!' But then it was fine."

Since her blunder, the 'Little Women' filmmaker has received some feedback from other directors and has learnt to accept that things don't always go to plan on set, but knows things will work out in the end.

Greta added: "I've gotten loads of good advice from great directors, but something to keep in mind for anyone out there who wants to be a director: movies can absorb bad days. You never want a bad day, but movies and performances really can absorb something that doesn't feel good.

"And sometimes you have more than you think you have, is the other thing. Sometimes you think, 'Ugh, I never really got it. I didn't help them, the actor couldn't find it and I kept steering them wrong.' Then you look at the footage and it'll cut together, and it'll be okay."

Meanwhile, Greta previously recalled how terrified Saoirse - who starred as Christine Lady Bird McPherson - was of messing up on set.

She said: "She was scared. I drove her around everywhere because she had to go to doctors' appointments and different things to get cleared to film. She was really worried. I always knew she would be great, but she was really concerned she wouldn't be able to find the character."