As we head into Oscar season, one thing seems inevitable: while so many new contenders have officially entered the race just in November or December, “Poor Things,” “Maestro,” “The Holdovers,” “American Fiction,” and “Killers Of The Flower Moon,” the 2024 Oscars may be the first Academy Award season that boils down to two summer blockbuster movies: “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer.” And yes, it’s funny to think of those two films as summer blockbusters in the traditional sense, given they’re not superhero movies or action franchises, but let’s face it, they are; one grossed over 1 billion dollars (Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie”), and one came super close to that exact figure (Christopher Nolan’s movie).
So it’s funny to think that when “Barbie” was first announced, the co-writer, filmmaker Noah Baumbach —the romantic partner of the director Greta Gerwig (technically, they’re married as of this week)— learned he was part of the creation of the project from a news headline.
Oops, Gerwig decided not to tell him in advance, according to a recent new interview with 60 Minutes, and Baumbach said he learned about his involvement from a news headline.
“I think I said, ‘apparently we are writing a movie called, ‘Barbie,’” Baumbach said dryly, sounding as if he was unimpressed at the time and puzzled.
“I think I said, ‘oooh, whoops,’” Gerwig recalled, of letting it slip that Baumbach would be co-writing it with her even though she had not even asked him yet if he wanted to do it (they had co-written a few films before this including “Frances Ha”),
“I couldn’t even fathom it,” Baumbach admitted of his initial reaction, to which Gerwig burst out laughing.
“Well, his issue with it was that there was no character and no story,” Gerwig recalled.
“I didn’t mind that so much as that it was Barbie,” he said. “You did, you told me, ‘there’s no character and there’s no story,’” Gerwig countered.
The 60 Minutes host seemed puzzled or uninformed, ‘There’s no character?’ which was kind of amusing.
“No, it’s a doll; she doesn’t have a personality,” the two said, essentially explaining that there was no actual source material to work with other than a doll and TV commercials for it that created their own brand and identity. Baumbach still wasn’t impressed.
“Then when I found it we were doing it, I was actively trying to get us out of doing it,” Baumbach admitted, laughing. “I made some calls, no [it didn’t work]. But Greta was persistent, and Greta saw something…”
“Barbie” is an exciting take on identity wrapped up in a big candy-coated, eye-popping piece of entertainment. Gerwig saw an opportunity: a character everyone thought they knew who she was, but no one had yet truly defined her.
“Barbie’s been around since 1959, and everyone knows who she is, and everyone has an opinion about her], and she’s run the gamut of being ahead of time, behind time, she’s a hero, she’s a villain.”
On the men’s backlash, Baumbach said, “I thought men could take it,” he said, sounding perplexed. “I mean, geez, c’mon.” Watch the full interview below.
