“Barbie” director Greta Gerwig says she is blown away by the runaway success of the movie, which in its first few days has broken box office records.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine something like this,” Gerwig said of the film, which stars Margot Robbie as the iconic doll.
The movie’s momentous $162 million opening weekend means that the Oscar-nominated director now holds the record for best debut for a movie directed by a woman, even better than any Marvel film.
“I wanted to make something anarchic and wild and funny and cathartic,” Gerwig told the New York Times on Tuesday of the movie she cowrote with partner Noah Baumbach, “and the idea that it’s actually being received that way, it’s sort of extraordinary.”
“I think it was a particular ripple in the universe that allowed it to happen,” she added. “I’m so grateful. I’m so amazed. I’m at a loss for words, really… it’s been amazing to walk around and see people in pink. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine something like this. It’s just… it’s… sorry, I’m just disintegrating into noises,” said the overcome director.
And its wild success isn’t restricted to the U.S: “My producer David Heyman sent me an email from someone who lives in a tiny Scottish town, and there’s a movie theater there that has been struggling, and they had sold-out shows all weekend for ‘Barbie.’ He was like, “The town is showing up!’” said Gerwig, who previously directed “Lady Bird” and “Little Women.”
Not is it only popular with women and girls. “My brother and his sons and his wife all went in Sacramento and sent a picture, then they sent a text saying their oldest son was going back the next day with his friends. These 15- or 16-year-old boys from Sacramento are sending me texts saying, ‘It was great! We loved the Porsche joke!’ Those are the things that feel so amazing. I’ve never quite had anything like this,” Gerwig added.
While pundits predict that Warner Bros. will greenlight a “Barbie” sequel any day now, Gerwig said she’s happy with where the film ends. “At this moment, it’s all I’ve got. I feel like that at the end of every movie, like I’ll never have another idea and everything I’ve ever wanted to do, I did,” she said.
