John Phillips/Getty Images/Warner Bos. /Courtesy of the Everett Collection
Greta Gerwig had a clear idea of the story she wanted to tell with Barbie and rejected the idea of cutting out a scene with Margot Robbie and an elderly woman on a bench.
As Barbie transitions into the real world, she encounters an elderly woman sitting on a bench. As the women exchange looks, Barbie compliments the older woman and tells her she is beautiful. When it came time to cut the film, Gerwig felt pressure to cut that particular scene out of the final cut, but ultimately chose to keep it.
“I love that scene so much,” Gerwig told Rolling Stone. “And the older woman on the bench is costume designer Ann Roth. She is a legend. In a way, it’s a dead end – it’s going nowhere. And in early cuts, when you saw the film, they said, ‘Well, you could cut it.’ And indeed the story would go on anyway.’ And I said, ‘If I cut the scene, I don’t know what this movie is about.’”
Gerwig said she viewed the scene as a “key moment” in Barbie’s journey, adding, “For me, that’s the heart of the movie.” The way Margot plays this moment is so gentle and so unforced. There are the more outrageous elements in the film that people say, “Oh my god, I can’t believe Mattel would let you do this” or, “I can’t believe Warner Bros. would let you do this.” But for me, the part that I can’t believe is still in the film is this little dead end that goes nowhere — except that it’s the heart of the film.”
In theaters now, Barbie also stars Ryan Gosling as Ken, Issa Rae, Kate McKinnon, Simu Liu, America Ferrera, Will Ferrell, Ariana Greenblatt, Emma Mackey, Alexandra Shipp, Michael Cera, Hari Nef, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Rhea Perlman, Ncuti Gatwa, Emerald Fennell, Sharon Rooney, Scott Evans, Ana Cruz Kayne, Connor Swindells, Ritu Ar ya and Jamie Demetri Du and Marisa Abela.