Greta Gerwig Fought for ‘I’m Just Ken’ Dance Sequence in ‘Barbie’: ‘This Could Be Terrible, but Now I’m Committed’
“Barbie” director Greta Gerwig discussed how Ryan Gosling’s “I’m Just Ken” dance sequence came to be during her Screen Talk at the BFI London Film Festival on Sunday, revealing that she was asked in a “big meeting” if the scene was necessary.
“It just said in the script, ‘And then it becomes a dream ballet and they work it out through dance,'” Gerwig said in conversation with “Succession” creator Jesse Armstrong. “There was a big meeting that was like, ‘Do you need this?’ And I was like, ‘Everything in me needs this.’ They were like, ‘What do you even mean? What is a dream ballet?’ And I was like, ‘A dream ballet? Where do I begin!'”
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Gerwig cited “Singing in the Rain” as one of her main inspirations for the scene, explaining that the classic movie musical contains “a dream ballet inside of a dream ballet.”
“I was like, if people could follow that in ‘Singing in the Rain,’ I think we’ll be fine. I think people will know what this is. So that was the big reference point,” she said. “Even though everything felt right to me and was giving me so much joy in the way we were doing it, it was also like, ‘Oh no, this could be just terrible, but now I’m committed.'”
Gerwig is fresh off the groundbreaking success of “Barbie,” which made more than $1 billion at the global box office, becoming the highest-grossing movie of the year thus far and making history as the highest-grossing film by a solo female director.
Starring Margot Robbie as Barbie and Gosling as Ken, the fantasy comedy follows the famous dolls as they enter the real world. “Barbie” also stars America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman, Helen Mirren and Will Ferrell.
The “Lady Bird” and “Little Women” director shared her reaction to the “Barbie” mania during the talk, saying that it reassured her that “the song that’s in my heart is in other people’s hearts.”
“On the opening weekend, I was in New York City and I went around to different theaters and stood in the back, and also I turned up the volume if I felt it was playing at maybe not the perfect level,” Gerwig said. “It was the most thrilling thing.”
As for what she’s working on next, Gerwig did not say specifics but did admit it’s been a challenge.
“I’m working on something right now, but I’m in the writing process and it’s hard and I’m having nightmares,” she said. “I’m having recurring nightmares.”
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