A “fart opera” scene from ‘Barbie’ was cut by Greta Gerwig
Barbie director Greta Gerwig and the film’s editor Nick Houy have revealed that a running joke they tried to work in to all three films they’ve collaborated on (Barbie, Little Women, Lady Bird) never made the film’s final cut.
The pair explained how they always tried to sneak in a fart joke, but none of their attempts have made it to the big screen. Gerwig said in a recent interview that she decided to cut a “fart opera” scene following a poor reaction at the film’s screen tests.
“We’ve always tried to get in a proper fart joke, and we’ve never done it,” Gerwig told IndieWire. “We had like a fart opera in the middle [of the film]. I thought it was really funny. And that was not the consensus.”
Houy agreed that it didn’t work, adding: “It was in the wrong place, too”. He joked that they needed to “work it into a more significant narrative moment next time”.
On their joint decision to cut the scene from the film, he said: “We were just, like, ‘Let’s put it in front of people and see how they react”.
Adding: “Everyone’s different and every screening’s different and we’ve definitely learned, over the years, that you really have to let things have their fair chance and then act accordingly. Once you know it’s dead, you have got to get it out of there.”
Barbie arrived in cinemas July 21st, starring Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Will Ferrell, Emma Mackey, Ncuti Gatwa, Emma Mackey, and more, and has received largely rave reviews, beating the box-office record held by The Dark Knight in the process.
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