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When Greta Gerwig was in pre-production on her film Barbie (opening July 20), executives from Mattel, owners of the Barbie brand, paid her an awkward visit. She gave them clues to her inspiration for creating the script: magical realism, religious myth, the influence of certain painters, and references to movies like The Red Shoes and Stairway to Heaven. "I think at the time, everyone realized that no one had thought of this before and they were surprised by my level of panic, by the saturation of the color pink, by my commitment to the project. They came away delighted," admits the director.
The announcement of a live-action 'Barbie' movie starring Margot Robbie as the iconic doll was enough to blow the Internet out of the water. But when it was confirmed that her sporty boyfriend, Ken, would be played by Ryan Gosling and that Greta Gerwig, the director of Little Women, would be in charge of the script and directing, the project reached unknown levels of interest from an audience that has been abandoning movie theaters for years.
In fact, in the U.S., the film is projected by analysts at about $100 million at the box office in its first weekend. Still, Gerwig says she initially thought the film might be the end of her career. "I had a moment of vertigo when I started writing the script. Truthfully, I didn't know where to start."
The positive response from fans...