Barbie’s Margot Robbie Says Greta Gerwig Has “Literally Changed the Game”

The SAG strike is officially over, which means actors are finally able to talk about their projects and head back into production on their upcoming shows and movies. Barbie hit theaters right around the time the SAG strike went into effect, but the cast managed to conduct some of their interviews just in time. Now that we’re about to enter awards season, you can expect to hear from some of the Barbie stars again. In fact, Barbie star Margot Robbie and director Greta Gerwig recently took part in Deadline‘s Contenders panel about the film, which is currently the highest-grossing movie of 2023, During the panel, Robbie shared lots of praise for Gerwig

“I definitely didn’t want to try and make a puff piece Barbie. I wanted us to run at the scary things as much as we celebrated the wonderful things,” Robbie, who also executive produced the film, said during the panel. “That’s exactly why I went after Greta, because I was like, ‘She would do that.’”

“There’s no way we could be on stage and have done what we got to do if those women hadn’t done it,” Gerwig said of the women creators who came before her. “So don’t feel alone in this place. I feel like there’s lots of them who’ve come before and will come after.”

“I’ll just jump in and say what Greta is too humble to say,” Robbie added. “She has literally changed the game. From now on, it’s different because of what she’s done. It’s massive. And someone is going to come forward with another original idea that requires a big budget, and there’s going to be a female lead, and they’re going to point to Barbie and say, ‘But that made money.’ Everyone’s gonna go, ‘Oh, right we’re gonna have to green light this.’ And that’s amazing.”

Barbie Producer Attributes Film’s Success to a “Hunger for Originality:” 

Producer David Heyman spoke at Deadline‘s Contender’s London event back in October and praised Barbie’s originality.

“One of the reasons the film has done so well is because it’s original,” Heyman explained. “There’s a real hunger for originality. Greta Gerwig is a singular artist, she pushes the boundaries of what’s possible in the most collaborative way. The film is fun, thematically rich, and very moving. It was challenging, of course, but when we made it, there was a spirit of fun that permeated the production.” 

Previously, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav gave Gerwig a shoutout during the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology conference (via Yahoo!). 

“Greta Gerwig gets the most credit. She’s an extraordinary genius,” Zaslav said when asked what lessons Warner Bros. was taking from the film reaching number one at the box office, adding that Gerwig “worked very effectively” and “right down to the wire” with the marketing team. “Every division of this company got behind Barbie,” Zaslav explained. “Every asset that we have was turned pink.” He added, “When we get something we believe in, we can really drive it.”

Are you rooting for Barbie this awards season? Tell us in the comments!