Director Greta Gerwig was nearly asked to take out an emotional scene from Barbie.
Gerwig co-writes and directs the new fantasy comedy movie starring Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken. This movie has opened to critical praise and commercial success, earning $155 million in the domestic box office opening weekend.
She detailed how Warner Bros. suggested she cut a scene in the movie where Barbie sees an older woman on the bench next to her and calls her beautiful. “I love that scene so much,” Gerwig told Rolling Stone. “And the older woman on the bench is the costume designer Ann Roth. She’s a legend. It’s a cul-de-sac of a moment, in a way — it doesn’t lead anywhere. And in early cuts, looking at the movie, it was suggested, ‘Well, you could cut it. And actually, the story would move on just the same.’ And I said, ‘If I cut the scene, I don’t know what this movie is about.’”
“To me, this is the heart of the movie,” she continues. “The way Margot plays that moment is so gentle and so unforced.”
Who is in the Barbie cast?
The film stars Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Scott Evans, Kate McKinnon, Ariana Greenblatt, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Mackey, Issa Rae, Michael Cera, Hari Nef, Will Ferrell, Helen Mirren, Dua Lipa, and more.
Barbie is now playing in theaters.