Barbie Director Reveals Scene That Had Everyone on Set in Tears

While there are plenty of big moments in Barbie, there is one moment in the Greta Gerwig-directed movie in particular that has been getting big reactions from audiences. That moment comes from America Ferrera’s character, Gloria, who delivers a moving and important monologue at a key point in the film. Given the moment’s significance, it’s a monologue that Ferrera herself said took a number of takes to get filmed, and now Gerwig reveals it is also the scene in the film that had everyone on set in tears,

Warning: spoilers for Barbie beyond this point.

In Barbie, Stereotypical Barbie (played by Margo Robbie) starts having relentless thoughts of dying which causes her to malfunction — her feet go flat, she develops cellulite, etc. — and with the help of Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon) discovers that a rift has formed between Barbieland and the Real World with the girl playing with Barbie and she has to go to fix it. Barbie discovers that it’s actually Gloria who is connected to her and has caused the issue, and so Barbie brings Gloria and her daughter, Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt) to Barbieland with her to fix things. Unfortunately, upon arrival, Barbie discovers that Ken (Ryan Gosling) has introduced the patriarchy to Barbieland, turning it into a Kendom. Devastated, Barbie no longer feels perfect and has something of a crisis of self. Gloria ends up putting things into perspective — and helps save not only Barbie but Barbieland itself — with an emotional monologue about the double standards all women face. The moment has become one that has resonated with audiences — male and female alike — and Gerwig told The New York Times, it had everyone on set in tears.

“I always hoped that America would do this part, and I feel so lucky that she said yes. Over the course of a long time prepping it, we really embroidered it with her own specificity and talked about her experiences and her own life, and three takes in, I was crying,” Gerwig said. “Then I looked around, and everyone was crying — even the men were tearing up. I suddenly thought that this tightrope she’s explaining is something that is present for women in the way that she’s describing it, but it’s also present for everybody.”

She continued, “Everybody is afraid they’re going to put a foot wrong and it’s all going to come crashing down, and in that moment of doing that monologue, she was giving people permission to step off that tightrope. I don’t think I realized until then that’s what that moment was for. She had a piece of the puzzle in her as an actor and collaborator and artist that explained it back to me.”

Ferrera Said it Took 30-50 Takes to Film the Iconic Monologue Scene

“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.”

Could there be a Barbie Sequel?

With Barbie already being a huge hit, fans are likely to be clamoring for a sequel but Gerwig doesn’t seem to be as on board. She told The New York Times that she as at “totally zero”.

“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.”

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.

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.