Barbie, the doll, may be 64 years old, but 鈥淏arbie,鈥� the movie, is a pandemic baby.
Greta Gerwig, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker behind 鈥淟ittle Women鈥� and 鈥淟ady Bird,鈥� started dreaming it up at a time when she wasn鈥檛 sure movies would ever come back.
鈥淚 wanted to channel something that had that ache in it, but also something so wild and unruly and something that was so just spilling out over the edges of it that you want to be in a group and see it big,鈥� Gerwig told The Associated Press this week. 鈥淏ecause I thought we鈥檒l never make any movies again, but if they鈥檙e going to, I鈥檇 like this.鈥�
Her 鈥淏arbie,鈥� which releases in theaters on Friday, is a joyful, maximalist, deeply weird, insightful and defiantly pink confection starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. She co-wrote it with her partner, Noah Baumbach, with whom she shares two sons 鈥� a toddler and a five-month-old whom they welcomed into the world while getting 鈥淏arbie鈥� out to the world.
Gerwig spoke to the AP this week about the film, the reviews and the tension between art and commerce.
Remarks have been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
AP: Reviews for 鈥淏arbie鈥� came out (Wednesday) and are very positive. I鈥檓 wondering if you engage with those and how you鈥檙e feeling?
GERWIG: I do. I mean, of course. I鈥檓 not Emily Dickinson. I鈥檓 not above anything. I didn鈥檛 actually look last night because I just knew I would be too anxious. I was like go to sleep, wake up, caffeinate, get your kid to summer camp and then find out where we are. There鈥檚 a lot of reviewers that I really respect and have really liked. Film criticism matters to me as a person and also being in conversation with people who think about cinema matters. But it can feel very scary at the moment that you鈥檙e at the emotional pitch of releasing a movie to take it in.
What I tend to do is know which ones I鈥檓 going to go back to in a few weeks when I can take it in more. It鈥檚 too overwhelming at the moment. ... All my metaphors go to giving birth because I have a five-month-old but it would be like if you just give birth and then you鈥檙e like, 鈥淲hat are the reviews of the baby?鈥� But I did check the email and I鈥檓 pleased. (鈥淏arbie鈥�) seems to have been received in the spirit that it was meant, which is exciting.
AP: I wondered going in if 鈥淏arbie鈥� was going to be for kids, but then about 15 minutes in I realized that this is exactly the type of movie that I wish I鈥檇 had to obsess over at age 8 instead of, like 鈥淕rease 2.鈥�
GERWIG: I鈥檝e never thought of such a sharp delineation of like what鈥檚 for kids and for adults. I just don鈥檛 see it as church and state. There鈥檚 this Demetri Martin joke that鈥檚 like, saying you like kids is like saying, 鈥淚 like people, for a little while.鈥� We all have some sense of childhood and sense of moving out of it, too, which I think is something that I probably will be forever interested in. We鈥檙e not Merlin. We only live in one direction.
AP: There鈥檚 a scene where Barbie enters the real world and is being ogled on Venice Beach and certainly it鈥檚 something a lot of women can relate to, but I wonder if that reminded you at all of your days starting out as an actor and feeling like you had to look a certain way.
GERWIG: I always felt like I was just was never quite right, that I was somehow being looked at and found lacking. That鈥檚 not exclusively available for actors, I think it鈥檚 pretty universal. But it鈥檚 heightened as an actor. I did an audition once and I was wearing overalls, I think it was for a TV show, and I got into the room and the casting director looked at me and said 鈥淲ell you must be very talented.鈥� I thought, 鈥淥h no, maybe I鈥檓 not talented enough to just be wearing overalls.鈥� Also that this is going quite badly.
AP: There鈥檚 some thematic similarities between all your films 鈥� women鈥檚 economic independence, self-actualization and the idea that emotion is not a weakness.
GERWIG: With any project, I鈥檓 completely in it. I can鈥檛 really connect it to other things I鈥檝e done. But then when I step back from it, I think, 鈥淥h, these are connected in some way.鈥� I think I鈥檓 just interested in the gleeful messiness of life and people. And I鈥檓 interested in women. I don鈥檛 know, I like them a lot. And I鈥檓 interested in women talking to each other through generations. The unwieldy nature of living life is not something that always has to be organized. It can kind of live in its own wildness.
AP: There was a Guardian piece, I鈥檓 not sure if you鈥檝e read it, about indie directors 鈥渟elling out.鈥� I feel like this is related, that 鈥淏arbie鈥� can be a Mattel movie and also a piece of legitimate art and expression as well. And also, like your characters, you鈥檙e ensuring your economic independence while getting your ideas out to the biggest audience possible.
GERWIG: I haven鈥檛 read it. I鈥檓 sure they make good points, probably. There鈥檚 always some tension, obviously, between art that exists in the world to be seen and consumed. I joked at the beginning that I鈥檓 not Emily Dickinson, but I really am not Emily Dickinson. I鈥檓 not writing poems on the back of envelopes and creating and destroying worlds from the confines of my home and never letting anybody see it. I鈥檓 making art to be seen by people.
Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press
