With Barbie now on the big screen and drawing great reviews it turns that according to director Greta Gerwig that there were Barbie scenes that were almost dropped and she had to fight hard to keep them in the film
The first that was almost dropped was the scene where Barbie (Margot Robbie) meets an elderly woman on a bench and tells her she’s beautiful. It was a scene that was suggested to be cut out by the studio executives. The older woman who is in that seen is the revered costume designer Ann Roth who at 91 years old has won Oscars for both The English Patient and also Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom in an extensive career that has included Mamma Mia, The Talented Mr Ripley & Klute.
Gerwig said, ‘It’s a cul-de-sac of a moment, in a way — it doesn’t lead anywhere. And in early cuts, looking at the movie, it was suggested, ‘Well, you could cut it. And actually, the story would move on just the same.’ And I said, ‘If I cut the scene, I don’t know what this movie is about…..To me, this is the heart of the movie…If I cut that scene, I don’t know why I’m making this movie,” Gerwig added. “If I don’t have that scene, I don’t know what it is or what I’ve done’.
The other Barbie scenes that were almost dropped by the executives was a scene where a teenager eviscerates Barbie to her face. So determined were they to have it removed that Mattel president and COO Richard Dickson flew to the movie’s London set at one point during production to argue with Gerwig and Robbie about the scene because he believed it was off-brand for the company. The director and her star convinced Dickson to keep the scene in the film by performing it for him live on set. After that the scene stayed in
related feature: 20 facts you didn’t know about Barbie the movie
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