2023-07-16 11:26:30
Film shooting star Greta Gerwig
10 things you should know about the “Barbie” director
Status: 16.07.2023 | Reading time: 4 minutes
It started with a slumber party: Gerwig in Barbie gear
Quelle: Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images
You can listen to our WELT podcasts here
In order to display embedded content, your revocable consent to the transmission and processing of personal data is required, since the providers of the embedded content as third-party providers require this consent [In diesem Zusammenhang können auch Nutzungsprofile (u.a. auf Basis von Cookie-IDs) gebildet und angereichert werden, auch außerhalb des EWR]. By setting the switch to “on”, you agree to this (which can be revoked at any time). This also includes your consent to the transfer of certain personal data to third countries, including the USA, in accordance with Art. 49 (1) (a) GDPR. You can find more information about this. You can withdraw your consent at any time via the switch and via privacy at the bottom of the page.
Greta Gerwig is the woman behind the long-awaited Barbie film, but who is Greta Gerwig? A search brings to light highly contradictory statements. Including: a Barbie-hostile mother, a fondness for John Wayne and a late diagnosis.
“Indiana Jones”? “Mission Impossible”? “Oppenheimer?” No, based on expectations, “Barbie” seems to be the film of the summer of 2023. But who is Greta Gerwig – the director who managed it? A portrait in ten quite contradictory stations.
1. The record holder
Greta Gerwig was 34 when she was nominated for a directing Oscar for Lady Bird, the youngest woman to receive such a nomination. However, only eight women have received this honor so far. Now 39, she’s part of a fast-growing group of young female directors in Hollywood: Patty Jenkins, Sofia Coppola, Ava DuVernay, Chloé Zhao, Sarah Polley. Their styles and themes are very different – but probably none other than Gerwig would have tried “Barbie”.
2. The Barbie complex
Gerwig’s relationship with Barbie is complicated. She’s always been fascinated by the doll, though: “Barbie wasn’t specifically forbidden in my parents’ house, but it wasn’t wanted either.” Her parents were children of the ’60s, and her mother used to dismiss the character by saying, “And for that.” we women fought for so long?!” Finally she gave in, Greta got her Barbie and was supposed to play with dolls until she was 13 and her classmates had long since practiced kissing.
This is what it looks like in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie-Land
Source: Warner Bros.
3. The ADHD thing
Not that she was shy growing up in California. She was bursting with energy. She read everything she could get her hands on, including the parenting guides her mother checked out from the library (“What’s the point of all this junk?”). She learned piano in order to be able to play the songs from the Monty Python songbook. She crashed into a meeting of Sony bigwigs unannounced and wrested them into directing Little Women (budget: $42 million). Warner Bros. received her script for Barbie along with a poem she wrote. ADHD was diagnosed when she was an adult.
also read
4. Die Greta-Gerwig-Playlist
Greta Gerwig’s favorite songs: “Hounds of Love” by Kate Bush, “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” by Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans, “The Pearl” by Judee Sill, “Baby Doll” by Laurie Anderson, “Lay My Love” by Brian Eno.
5. The on-set poem thing
Gerwig is a believer in “democratic” sets. Before filming the women’s empowerment film Little Women, she asked her key actors to memorize a poem and recite it for the others. This is how you create intimate moments.
6. The Coen moment
Gerwig never attended film school. Everything she knows about directing comes from observing on sets. In a WELT interview, she described how she knows everything about screenwriting: “I remember auditioning when I was an actress for ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ by the Coen brothers. I wasn’t taken, but I had the script in my hands, the script from the Coens! It didn’t look like a normal script at all. You write very differently. I had the key in my hand.”
7. John Wayne!
Her favorite films: Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman (the first major feminist film), Stanley Donen’s Singin’ in the Rain (her most-watched film), Howard Hawks’ Red River ( she is fascinated by John Wayne: “I like how much time he takes in everything he does”), “The 39 Steps” by Alfred Hitchcock (“one of the most perfect films ever made”), ” The King of Comedy by Martin Scorsese (for his blend of comedy and drama).
8. The secret of scene 68
She had her breakthrough as an actress (and screenwriter) in 2012 with “Frances Ha” in her late twenties on a self-discovery trip. Scene 68 lasts 28 seconds and was shot 42 times. In an essay in the „New York Times“ Gerwig described all 42 versions and what was wrong with each one (for her and the director Noah Baumbach, with whom she has lived and written since then, also the “Barbie” film). She seems like the heroine from her film “Lady Bird”, a combination of great self-confidence and deep insecurity. It is a document of searching, of self-criticism, of perfectionism – quite unique in film history.
also read
9. She doesn’t stream
Streaming: “I don’t actually watch TV. The sheer volume of episodes intimidates me. I looked back into season 7 of ‘Mad Men’ and I was like, ‘What, they are always Still in the office!?'”
Out of Office: Barbie (Margot Robbie) and Ken (Ryan Gosling)
Source: Warner Bros.
10. How “Barbie” actually started
To get in the mood for shooting Barbie, Gerwig organized a slumber party at Claridges, a five-star hotel in London. Some of the Barbie actresses were invited (there are a dozen of them), and they wore nightgowns and played games. A few Kens were also allowed to attend, but had to spend the night elsewhere. “I thought: Why shouldn’t we have some fun at the start,” explained Gerwig. “Adults rarely have that kind of fun.”
This is where you will find third-party content
In order to display embedded content, your revocable consent to the transmission and processing of personal data is required, since the providers of the embedded content as third-party providers require this consent [In diesem Zusammenhang können auch Nutzungsprofile (u.a. auf Basis von Cookie-IDs) gebildet und angereichert werden, auch außerhalb des EWR]. By setting the switch to “on”, you agree to this (which can be revoked at any time). This also includes your consent to the transfer of certain personal data to third countries, including the USA, in accordance with Art. 49 (1) (a) GDPR. You can find more information about this. You can withdraw your consent at any time via the switch and via privacy at the bottom of the page.
#Greta #Gerwig #Barbie #director