Barbie: Greta Gerwig refused to cut this “cul-de-sac” scene

“It’s the heart of the film”, considers the director about a dialogue between Margot Robbie and costume designer Ann Roth.

“I love this scene so much”gets carried away Greta Gerwig about the short exchange between Barbie (Margot Robbie) and an elderly woman, played by costume designer Ann Roth (Oscar winner for The English Patientin 1996, and My Rainey’s Bottom, in 2020). Interviewed by Rolling Stones on the production of his film taken from Mattel’s toys, the director explains that she had to insist that this dialogue where the doll discovering the real world tells a stranger that she finds her magnificent not be cut from the final cut.

“This elderly woman sitting on the bench is played by a costume designer who is a legend, Ann Roth, she specifies. In a way, this scene is a dead end, because it leads to nothing. Besides, while working on the editing, I was suggested to cut it: ‘You should delete it, the story would move forward the same way.’ But I replied: ‘If I cut this scene, I don’t know what this movie will be about’. This is a key moment in Barbie’s journey. For me, this is the heart of the film. Especially given the way Margot plays it, so softly, so naturally without forcing herself. There are elements of the film that are more shocking, for which people tell me: ‘Oh my God ! I can’t believe Mattel let you do this’ Or ‘Amazing that Warner Bros. validated that.’ For me, the part for which I say to myself: ‘I can’t believe she’s still in the movie’it’s this little cul-de-sac that leads nowhere… except that it’s the heart of the film.”

Greta Gerwig called on Ann Roth, whom she knows well, for this short cameo. The costume designer has indeed worked alongside her and those of her companion Noah Baumbach on While We’re Young (2014) or White Noise (2022).

Barbie is currently a hit in theaters. Here is its trailer:

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