Greta Gerwig said she and her editing partner Nick Houy threw out a “fart opera” scene that was supposed to happen in the middle of the movie.
“We’ve always tried to get in a proper fart joke and we’ve never done it,” Gerwig said in an interview, mentioning the decision to cut the chee-scene was because it wasn’t received well during its test screenings. “We had like a fart opera in the middle [of ‘Barbie’]. I thought it was really funny. And that was not the consensus.”
Houy, who has worked with Gerwig on all of the projects she’s directed, added that the scene was also misplaced, but that they do plan on executing the plan at some point.
“It was in the wrong place, too,” Houy said. “We need to work it into a more significant narrative moment next time.” The duo has attempted to make a fart joke happen in all three of their joint projects, “Little Women, “Lady Bird” and now “Barbie.”
“[‘Barbie’] was so much more a comedy than ‘Lady Bird’ and ‘Little Women,’” Houy said. “So we were just, like, ‘Let’s put it in front of people and see how they react.’ Everyone’s different and every screening’s different and we’ve definitely learned, over the years, that you really have to let things have their fair chance and then act accordingly. Once you know it’s dead, you have got to get it out of there.”
While they passed without the gas, the film hasn’t suffered at the box office with international gross already passing $400 million. The film also made history as Gerwig now holds the record for the biggest opening weekend by a female director.
