Barbie: America Ferrera's Epic Movie Speech Took 30 to 50 Takes to Film

By Nicole Drum

When it comes to Greta Gerwig's Barbie movie, there are plenty of iconic moments. After all, this is a movie about what might be one of the most iconic toys of all time. And while fans expected Margot Robbie's Barbie and Ryan Gosling's Ken to have memorable moments, one of the film's most significant scenes actually belongs to America Ferrera's Gloria, a human Mattel employee existing in not Barbieland but the Real World. Now, Ferrera reveals just how the newly-iconic moment came to life — and how many takes it took to get it right.

Warning: spoilers for Barbie beyond this point.

In the film, Robbie's Barbie finds herself having a crisis of self after returning from the Real World thinking she'd set everything right only to discover that the Kens had taken over. Gloria helps put things into perspective for Barbie with an emotional monologue about difficult double standards women face. The monologue ends up helping Barbie not only find herself but saving Barbieland as well.

"We shot it over two days," Ferrera told Variety. "It's one part of a much bigger scene with lots of characters in it. I had to do it many, many times for other people's coverage and to get through the whole scene and over the course of two days."

"It was probably 30 to 50 full runs of it, top to bottom," Ferrera added. "By the end, [co-star Ariana Greenblatt] recited the monologue to me because she had memorized it because that's how many times I had said it."

Ferrera also said that she and Gerwig even added a section where Gloria talks about women always having to appear grateful.

"There were moments in shooting the movie where Greta really had written something in a very specific way that she heard a very specific way in her head with particular cadence in a particular speed or a particular inflection," Ferrera said. "I thought maybe this would be like that, but it was the opposite. She wanted me to completely make it my own and find it as we did it."

Gerwig Made Surprise Appearances at Barbie Screenings

This weekend, one Barbie-watching crowd at Alamo Drafthouse in New York City were surprised by a visit from Gerwig herself. The theater shared photos of the visit to their Instagram, showing the director in front of an excited, pink-filled theater crowd.

"Last night we invited our pal Greta Gerwig to surprise the crowd at a sold out showing of BARBIE and minds were blown! There were cheers. There were tears. There was lots and lots of pink. Thanks to GG, the entire @barbiethemovie team and every single person who showed up and showed out so far this weekend. It meant so much to us and to Greta to see so many of you embracing the movie and the theatrical experience. We see you and we you!" the theater shared on Instagram.

Could there be a Barbie Sequel?

With Barbie already being a huge hit, fans are likely to be clamoring for a sequel and while Robbie wasn't necessarily ready to jump on the sequel train, she admitted previously that there are a "million different directions" a story could go from here.

"It could go a million different directions from this point," Robbie explained. "But I think you fall into a bit of a trap if you try and set up a first movie whilst also planning for sequels."

Of course, Mattel is very invested in movies at this point. According to a new report from The New Yorker, there are a total of 45 Mattel-related movies in the process of getting made, including (but not limited to) Barney, Hot Wheels, Polly Pocket, and He-Man. Other projects that have been announced to be in development over the years include American Girl, Big Jim, Chatty Cathy and Betsy Wetsy, Magic 8 Ball, Matchbox, Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots, Thomas & Friends, Uno, View-Master, and Wishbone. A Barbie sequel may not be out of the question.

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In Barbie, to live in Barbie Land is to be a perfect being in a perfect place. Unless you have a full-on existential crisis. Or you're a Ken. From Oscar-nominated writer/director Greta Gerwig comes Barbie, which hits theaters on July 21st. Barbie stars Oscar-nominees Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken, alongside America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Michael Cera, Ariana Greenblatt, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman, and Will Ferrell. The film also stars Ana Cruz Kayne, Emma Mackey, Hari Nef, Alexandra Shipp, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Simu Liu, Ncuti Gatwa, Scott Evans, Jamie Demetriou, Connor Swindells, Sharon Rooney, Nicola Coughlan, Ritu Arya, Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Dua Lipa and Oscar-winner Helen Mirren. Gerwig directed Barbie from a screenplay by Gerwig & Oscar nominee Noah Baumbach, based on Barbie by Mattel. 

Barbie is in theaters now.

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