Barbie Director Greta Gerwig Opens Up About Rumored Objections by Mattel

Greta Gerwig reveals one Barbie movie scene that had Mattel executives apprehensive.

By Jenna Anderson

Barbie has become a bonafide hit, earning the best opening-weekend box office since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Barbie movie manages to be reverential enough to the lore of the Mattel toy franchise, while also expanding upon and even commenting on the shortcomings of it. In a recent interview with The New York Times, Barbie director and co-writer Greta Gerwig addressed one report regarding the latter — a story where she and star and producer Margot Robbie pitched a scene that was in danger of being cut directly to Mattel. As Gerwig revealed, the scene in question involved Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt) calling Stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie) sexist and a "fascist." 

"I will say, that's always sounded so dramatic: They were coming anyway, so it wasn't like, "Stop everything, we all have to go to London!"" Gerwig revealed. "But with that scene in particular, my awareness of Barbie as a thing in the world completely corresponded with me knowing the arguments against Barbie. I didn't think there was any way to do this without giving that real estate and having well-articulated, correct arguments from a really smart character given to Barbie against Barbie. Also, I grew up with a mom who was kind of against Barbie, so that's how I knew all that. If you don't give voice to that, then you're nowheresville."

"It wasn't like I ever got the full seal of approval from [Mattel], like, "We love it!"" Gerwig continued. "I got a tentative, "Well, OK. I see that you are going to do this, so go ahead and we'll see how it goes." But that's all you need, and I had faith once it was in there and they saw it that they would embrace it, not fight it. Maybe at the end of the day, my will to have it in was stronger than any other will to take it out."

Will Barbie Get a Sequel?

As Gerwig revealed in the same interview, she does not currently have an idea in her mind for a Barbie sequel.

Related:

"At this moment, it's all I've got," Gerwig revealed. "I feel like that at the end of every movie, like I'll never have another idea and everything I've ever wanted to do, I did. I wouldn't want to squash anybody else's dream but for me, at this moment, I'm at totally zero."

What Is the Barbie Movie About?

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 hit 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. 

Trending Now: