This week, 60 Minutes profiled director, actor and screenwriter Greta Gerwig.
Her newest movie, the out-of-the-box blockbuster Barbie, was the very best grossing film of final yr, bringing in additional than a billion {dollars} worldwide.
When she was initially tapped to put in writing and direct it, Gerwig enlisted the assistance of her companion in work and life, filmmaker Noah Baumbach. Baumbach, who has written and directed critically acclaimed unbiased dramas like The Squid and the Whale and Marriage Story, was a bit perplexed by the concept of a Barbie movie.
“I could not even fathom it,” he stated. “And Greta wrote these pages…and I assumed, ‘I can write this Barbie film. I completely perceive what that is.'”
In an interview with 60 Minutes correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, Baumbach and Gerwig spoke about their work on Barbie, their method to screenwriting, and why their partnership works. And Alfonsi tried to be taught what she might a few Barbie sequel.
Gerwig defined that the movie begins “very mechanically…like a clock” with Barbie and pals having fun with a picture-perfect day in Barbie Land. After which instantly, there’s an existential disaster: Barbie asks, “Do you guys ever take into consideration dying?”
That second within the film is the tip results of a writing course of that started with Gerwig penning just a few early pages for the script and exhibiting them to Baumbach. In these early pages, Barbie meets an previous girl in her yard and is confronted by the concept of her personal mortality.
“Noah instantly understood what I used to be doing and was like, ‘You understand, that is thrilling and there is a film in right here,'” Gerwig defined.
The writing duo additionally revealed how their writing course of informs their method to directing. Each Gerwig and Baumbach stated they like to stay to precisely what was written within the script with no substitutions on set when the film is filmed.
Gerwig stated that within the movies Girl Chook and Little Ladies, every little thing was scripted, down to every “you understand” and “um.” She says this degree of element is necessary to retain the rhythm of a dialog that is been written and browse aloud tons of of instances earlier than the primary body is shot.
“As soon as now we have one thing that feels extra like a script, then we begin studying the entire thing out loud,” she defined. “We vetted the language ourselves, so we are able to hear if there is a joke that is repeated or a rhythm that is off.”
Baumbach and Gerwig stated that when writing the Barbie script, they all the time had Ryan Gosling in thoughts to play Ken, even writing his full identify subsequent to Ken’s traces within the first draft.
When writing for the function of Ken, Baumbach and Gerwig got here up with a wealth of concepts they could not match into their closing draft. In an earlier model of the script, they additional explored the “Ken impact” in the actual world and wrote a scene for the film wherein Ryan Gosling performs himself.
“We had approach an excessive amount of materials for Ken. We might write, and write, and write,” Gerwig defined. Baumbach interrupted and advised Gerwig to not “give it away.”
Alfonsi requested, “Would there ever be a Ken Film?” Gerwig laughed and stated she could not touch upon that, however she did not rule it out fully.
“I imply, the reality is, you understand — I assume we’ll see,” she stated with a smile.
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