A movie about Barbie, the long-running fashion doll, might not sound like a hot idea, but that all changed when it attracted some of the best talent in the business. Improbably enough, it wound up being Greta Gerwig’s directorial follow-up to her acclaimed hit take on Little Women, with an overqualified cast and some reportedly out-there ideas to match. Thing is, Gerwig was as worried as anyone else about her taking it on.
As per The Hollywood Reporter, Gerwig — who stars in her partner Noah Baumbach’s new film of Don DeLillo’s White Noise — recently appeared on Dua Lipa’s podcast At Your Service, where the conversation inevitably turned to one of the most anticipated films of next year.
“It was something that was exciting because it was terrifying,” Gerwig revealed. “It felt like vertigo, starting to write it, like: ‘Where do you even begin, and what would be the story?’ And I think it was that feeling I had was knowing that it would be really interesting terror. Usually that’s where the best stuff is, where you’re like, ‘I am terrified of that.’ Anything where you’re like, ‘This could be a career-ender’ — then you’re like, ‘I should probably do it.’”
It’s good advice, encouraging people to be bold and take chances, even if it’s in the form of a dodgy IP movie that could easily be awful. And that’s how the director of Lady Bird took a lazy film idea and turned it into something everyone, from plebeians to snoots, can’t wait to see.
Barbie hits theaters on July 21, 2023. White Noise is now playing in theaters in limited release; it hits Netflix on December 30.
(Via THR)