The first week of the British Film Institute’s (BFI) London Film Festival concluded this evening with a rousing on-stage question and answer session with writer and director Greta Gerwig.
To the surprise of the packed audience at BFI Southbank, Gerwig was joined on stage by Succession creator Jesse Armstrong, who moderated the session. Topics offered included Gerwig’s entry into the business by appearing in small New York indies, her transition to writing and her billion-dollar box office hit Barbie.
“It was incredible,” Gerwig said of the response the film received from audiences.
“I was invited on this trip. Margot Robbie came to me and asked if you wanted to write this. She produced and starred alongside David Heyman and Tom Ackerley. They put together this incredible team and the process of creating it was a great joy.”
Gerwig later added that she secretly toured theaters in New York during the film’s opening weekend, instructing staff on how best to present her image.
“I would walk through the theaters and stand in the back and turn up the volume if I felt the volume wasn’t perfect,” she said. “It was the most exciting thing.”
Elsewhere, Armstrong focused on Gerwig’s early acting work, performing a scene from 2012’s “Frances Ha,” which Gerwig starred in and co-wrote with Noah Baumbach. The scene in question will be familiar to Gerwig Baumbach fans and shows Gerwig’s restless character unable to navigate an intense discussion at a friend’s dinner party.
Of the scene, Gerwig said, “I haven’t acted like that in a while, and I don’t know if I could do it anymore. You get into a certain zone of a writer or director.”
Gerwig added that at the time she was filming the picture, her identity as an actress felt “extremely accessible” and she would “love” to return to that state; However, she concluded: “I just feel out of control now.”
When it comes to acting, Gerwig also spoke at length about the joy of working with directors and closely following their visions, which is why she has no plans to star in her own films.
“I like being in the hands of the director and giving him what he wants,” she said. “That’s why I have never acted in my films and never want to. I’m happy to give up. I would be denying the pleasure of both if I did that.”
Later in the conversation, Gerwig and Armstrong turned to her writing process and how she deals with fear when writing a screenplay. Gerwig has worked on twelve feature films and written the screenplay for a “Snow White” reboot for Disney.
“Writing is what I enjoy most, but it is painful when I do it. Writing is deeply painful for me,” she said of the process. “You’re alone and it’s quiet. Every voice you’ve ever had in your head that says, ‘You’re not very good,’ is loud.”
Gerwig later concluded that she deals with her fears by “sneaking” into her writing duties, collecting ideas and moments that she then uses in her scripts.
At the end of the session, Gerwig told the audience at BFI Southbank that she was currently “in the process of writing” her next feature film and the thought of writing gave her “recurring nightmares”. Gerwig did not share any details about the project.
The London Film Festival runs until October 15th.