The monologue delivered by actress America Ferrera in “Barbie” with the intensity of a battle cry lists some of the many dangers of being a woman in a still-patriarchal society and has become one of the most talked-about movie moments of 2023.
“I've never been a part of something that was so highly anticipated,” Ferrera said during an interview at a hotel restaurant in Beverly Hills. Originally from Los Angeles but based in New York, she was back in her hometown to perform the smash hit during awards season.
Relaxing in a cozy beige sweater, Ferrera, 39, recalled a pre-release press event in Mexico City, where 20,000 enthusiastic people greeted filmmaker Greta Gerwig and the cast of her pink comedy. “It was like a presidential campaign,” she added.
Ferrera plays Gloria, mother and Mattel employee whose self-doubt and unfulfilled desires trigger an existential crisis in the real world in Stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie) in Barbie Land. Ferrera's gutsy performance has earned her space in the Oscar discussion this year.
Although Gloria could be considered a supporting player in “Barbie,” Ferrera knows it's her flawed character that sets the adventure in motion. The actress, who broke out in “Real Women Have Curves” (2002) and went on to win an Emmy for her role as the title character in “Ugly Betty” (2006-10), deeply admires how Gerwig dared to inject something seemingly empty Concept with a lot of meaning.
“It's great that something that's both commercially successful and culturally dominant is about many things at the same time, which isn't easy to pull off in the biggest film of the year,” Ferrera noted.
Here are edited excerpts from our conversation.
Were you surprised by the huge success of “Barbie”?
I started reading the script with no attachment to Barbie at all. I didn't grow up playing with Barbies. I was more curious to see what Greta would do with it. It wasn't just funny and subversive and wonderfully weird. It was also about femininity. When I finished reading the script, I was just thrilled that this was the Barbie movie that no one had asked for but that we were going to get. I had a feeling from the start that it was going to be huge.
Why didn't you ever play with Barbies as a child?
We couldn't afford Barbies. She was very expensive along with all her things. [Laughs] I had a cousin who had Barbies and I played with them at her house, but they also seemed very distant from me. I didn't necessarily feel like I was represented in the Barbie narrative. It felt like a world that wasn't accessible to me.
Since you had no personal connection to Barbie, how did you find your way into the character of Gloria and this world?
One of the things that really gave me insight into this character was the documentary Tiny Shoulders: Rethinking Barbie, which showed Barbie expanding into many different sizes, shapes and colors. The woman [Kim Culmone] Who was cited as the head designer of Barbie, a very cool feminist progressive woman, got backlash from all sides: from the estate owners, who said, “Barbie can't change.” And from her progressive friends, angry that she was siding with Barbie interested. “Why should you care about something that is so bad for women?”
But she had her own deep personal connection to playing Barbie with her mother. She fought for this idea that she knew was imperfect but that still meant something to her. This gave me the insight I needed to play Gloria as a real adult woman and understand why she plays with Barbie and wants Barbie Land.
What did you think when you first saw Gloria's now incredibly popular speech?
It definitely felt like an important moment, but Gloria was beaming from the start. She represents this search for permission to express herself. She has to play the role of mother and responsible career woman while hiding everything she loves under the corporate suit and being everything she imagined she could be. From the moment we met her in her pink sneakers to the moment she got to ride in that chase, there was so much wish fulfillment and relief for someone who has repressed so much.
The monologue felt so right to Gloria. Yes, it takes the Barbies out of their moment, but it's also the natural breaking point for Gloria where she has to say what she discovers on this journey. I realized that it was a big moment and that it had to work, but it also didn't work independently of her overall quest for more freedom for herself.
Has the speech changed at all?
The text has evolved a little. Greta asked me, “Why don’t you just tell me what you would say?” Write it in your own words. What would you add?” Not every director initially invites actors to rewrite their work. Some of what we talked about made it into the script. The phrase “Always be grateful” came from this conversation with Greta. She explained, adding: “But never forget that the system is rigged.” There were many versions that we did. We ended in tears. It ended with laughter, it got big, it got small, and I was able to do that because I really trusted Greta to know what would be right for the film.
What do you think about the discourse that some people believe that Gloria's speech oversimplifies feminism?
We can know things and still need to hear them out loud. It can still be cathartic. There are many people who need Feminism 101, entire generations of girls who are just coming of age and have no words for the culture in which they are growing up. Plus, boys and men who may have never spent any time thinking about feminist theory.
If you know much about feminism, this may seem like an oversimplification, but there are entire countries that have banned this film for a reason. To say that something that is perhaps basic or, as some people think, basic feminism is not necessary is an oversimplification. Assuming that everyone is at the same level of knowledge and understanding about the experience of femininity is an oversimplification.
Gloria's story is closely linked to Barbie's. How do you think the two of them help each other overcome their difficulties?
Greta, Margot and I talked about the relationship between Gloria and Barbie as a love story. Not necessarily romantic, which is what some people on the Internet have pushed for this reading, but we talked about how Barbie and Gloria need each other to be complete and to be the pieces of a puzzle that each of them is missing. The journey frees Gloria from the impossible task of being the kind of woman she believes she needs to be in the real world. And Barbie frees herself from having to be an idea that will never fulfill all the things she is supposed to fulfill by choosing to be human.
How did you react when you first saw the doll made based on your image for the Barbie collection inspired by the film?
Surreal. For me there were actually some similarities in the facial features. She is the first Barbie doll ever modeled after a Honduran-American woman. This is really special, knowing that no one has had a Honduran Barbie doll to play with until now.
Do you feel like your career has always been marked by firsts, like being the first Latina to win an Emmy for Lead Actress? The pressure to be first is great.
I just took every single opportunity that came my way to do the best work I could in the hopes that there would be another opportunity after that. Looking back, it's much clearer to see that my career was shaped by how the culture viewed someone like me. The opportunities that presented themselves kept me in very specific boxes. I think my job as an actor was to give these characters as much complexity as possible and not just play characters that contradict an expectation.
Has things improved for Latinas in Hollywood since then?Real women have curves”?
It took Josefina López, who wrote the screenplay, 11 years to make this film. And when the film was successful, it didn't mean a turning point for Latinx writers, directors and actresses, who were offered countless opportunities. As you said, I am the first Latina to win an Emmy in a major category. I'm still the only one and that doesn't bring me joy. While I'd like to believe that things are different today than they were 22 years ago when Real Women Have Curves was made, the data shows that by and large nothing has changed.
This reminds me of Lupe Ontiveros, who played your mother in Real Women Have Curves and made a career out of tiny roles that she turned into screen gold.
She was such a force, an incredible talent. [Ontiveros died in 2012.] I often think about all the incredible achievements that were denied to us and that the magnifying glass was never able to give because those opportunities didn't exist for someone like her. And she still did her job. She took every scrap she could think of, filled it with humor and made it memorable. I often think of her and of all the Latino actors before me who did what they could with everything they had.
What do you see as the ideal future for Latinos in the industry?
The hope is that we actually create outlets for the immense talent of Latinos. And that we can go beyond the struggle of just being visible, and that we can actually create and exist as full human beings, as artists, with things that go beyond, “We're here.” But it's difficult, this to find opportunities. There are a lot of things that are very transactional in terms of checking boxes to claim diversity. One of the most exciting things about this film for me as a Latina woman was the invitation to be part of something so adventurous, joyful and fun. Gloria is Latina, but being Latina was not her reason for being in this story.