The ‘Barbie’ scene that Greta Gerwig refused to cut
Writer and director Greta Gerwig has revealed that she refused to cut a particular scene from her new film Barbie because she believed that it represented the entire ethos and message of the movie.
Gerwig recently revealed that studio executives had suggested that she remove a scene from the Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling-starring movie where an old woman is told by Barbie that she is beautiful.
“I love that scene so much,” Gerwig recently 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”.
Gerwig continued: “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.'”
The director then explained how the scene in question forms “the heart of the movie”.
“The way Margot plays that moment is so gentle and so unforced,” she said. “There’s the more outrageous elements in the movie that people say, ‘Oh, my God, I can’t believe Mattel let you do this,’ or, ‘I can’t believe Warner Bros let you do this’.”
“But to me, the part that I can’t believe that is still in the movie is this little cul-de-sac that doesn’t lead anywhere,” Gerwig noted. “The idea of a loving God who’s a mother, a grandmother is something I feel like I need and I wanted to give to other people. If I cut that scene, I don’t know why I’m making this movie.”
Check out the Barbie trailer below.
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