Entertainment
Director Greta Gerwig describes live-action Barbie movie as potential ‘career ender’ as she admits to ‘terror’ over job-Tori Brazier-Entertainment – Metro
Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling lead the cast as Barbie and Ken.
Greta said that normally feeling terrified helps find the ‘best stuff’ (Picture: Getty)
Greta Gerwig has described her highly anticipated upcoming Barbie movie as a possible ‘career ender’ and revealed that both that and the ‘terror’ she felt over the prospect of doing it were what convinced her to go for it.
The three-time Oscar nominee is currently in post-production on the movie, which stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as the iconic doll and her boyfriend Ken, and from whom we’ve already seen scores of snazzy costumes in on-set snaps.
It also features an all-star cast featuring Will Ferrell, Shang-Chi star Simu Liu, America Ferrera, Saturday Night Live alumna Kate McKinnon and new Doctor Who Ncuti Gatwa.
Although everything we’ve heard so far sounds promising, from a leaked clip of Margot’s Barbie voice to Ryan’s musings on his ‘Ken-ergy’, it turns out writer-director Greta deemed it a very risky project initially.
‘It was something that was exciting so I had that terror. There’s something about starting from that place where it’s like, well, anything’s possible,’ she explained.
She added: ‘I had what felt like vertigo when starting to write it, like, where do you even begin? What would be the story? I knew that it would be really interesting terror. Usually that’s where the best stuff is.’
Margot Robbie in the first-look picture of her as Barbie (Picture: Jaap Buitendijk/Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)
With co-star Ryan Gosling in one of their incredible coordinating looks (Picture: London Entertainment/Rex/Shutterstock)
‘Anything where I’m like this could be a career ender – I probably should do it,’ she told singer Dua Lipa on her At Your Service podcast.
The Lady Bird award-winner also revealed that she had been keen to work with Margot for a long time, having met with her previously for a project that didn’t get off the ground.
She took the opportunity to say yes straightaway when star and producer Margot offered her the writing gig, putting forward her partner Noah Baumbach for the job too – not that she actually let him know.
Greta and partner Noah Baumbach, on whom she sprang co-writing Barbie (Picture: Taylor Hill/WireImage)
Juggling their six-month-old baby at the time, she admitted she ‘wasn’t necessarily running everything by him’ and that when they went to sit down to write together at the beginning of the pandemic, he asked why they weren’t doing another project instead.
However, Greta was relying on her gut instinct.
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The 39-year-old said: ‘It was in March 2020 that Noah said, “Are we meant to be writing a Barbie movie?” I said yes and he’s like, “I don’t have any ideas for that, why didn’t you sign us up to write a different thing?” And I was like ‘I have a feeling about this’.
The new Barbie film is a joint project between Warner Bros and the doll’s manufacturer Mattel, with details being kept under wraps – although it’s thought that the film will feature a meta aspect, with Will Ferrell starring as the CEO of a toy company.
Barbie will be released in UK cinemas on July 21, 2023.
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