From “Avatar” to “Avengers: Endgame,” “Toy Story 3” to “Titanic,” “Jurassic Park” to “Joker,” for years we have had the big blockbuster hits that made their way up to one billion dollars, and now, dressed head to toe in pink (because pink goes with everything), we got Barbie. 28 directors have hit the one billion mark, and now, we have our first solo female director to do it: Greta Gerwig. Know the name?
Gerwig did not begin her career directing, however. According to Greta Gerwig: Biography, Director, Actor “she began her career primarily focused up on acting, particularly in independent films, and earned a Golden Globe nomination for her performance in Frances Ha.” Though she was interested in performing as a young girl, it all began in college. Her roommate at Barnard was none other than SNL Barbie Kate McKinnon! But back then she was not always in the splits. Gerwig studied English and philosophy and graduated in 2006. From Greta Gerwig: Biography, Director, Actor, she “sought to become a playwright but after getting rejected from MFA programs in playwriting, she instead focused primarily on acting.” Talent already on a roll, she made her “film debut while still in college, with a small part in Joe Swanberg’s LOL.” Soon she became known to be in movies dubbed “mumblecore,” a low-cost, dialogue-based type of independent film. Then, from IMDb, in 2011, she “received an award for Acting from the Athena Film Festival for her artistry as one of Hollywood’s definitive screen actresses of her generation.”
While Gerwig’s list of independent film credits grew, she started moving behind the camera and began grabbing at opportunities to write and direct. (You may know her partner, writer and director Noah Baumbach, from films such as “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and “Marriage Story.” The two co-wrote “Barbie” together.) Gerwig approached adapting “Little Women” before making her solo directorial debut, Best Picture nominated “Lady Bird.” “Lady Bird” is a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age-story of a teenage girl, who shares the same name as the title of the movie, growing up in Sacramento, where Gerwig grew up. “Little Women” too was nominated for Best Picture, and, from Time, “mark[ed] a transition for Gerwig from the world of low-budget indies, where [she] spent so much of her career as a performer and filmmaker, to studio movies.” Also with Time, Gerwig said, “I didn’t know if I wanted to be a writer, which is why I liked Jo March, or Jo March was a writer so I wanted to be a writer too.” Gerwig believed that Louisa May Alcott’s words and story still applied to today’s culture. Audiences agreed, making Gerwig’s adaptation a fan favorite everywhere.
And not soon after, came “Barbie.” When “Barbie” came out, it was different, it was big, it was well-anticipated, and it was pink. Though the script was co-written, Gerwig took the reins of directing, leading all the Barbies, Kens, and Allans to box office success.
Not many people knew much about the behind-the-scenes success of “Barbie.” Sophomore Nathaniel Laursen said he “knew ‘Barbie’ made one billion fast,” but did not know Gerwig was the first female director to ever hit that mark. Freshman Caprice Oliva states, “I didn’t know it made that much! I think it was quick because of the women empowerment and encouragement in it!”
“Barbie” put it into speed drive for Warner Brothers. New York Times tells us that “no movie in the studio’s 100-year history has sold so many tickets so fast.” “Barbie” disproved the Hollywood myth of “girl” and “guy” movies – a girl can go to a “guy” movie but a guy cannot go to a “girl” movie. Senior Brennen Rickey, who was highly in tune to the fashion in the movie, says, “I’ve found that there are lot of movies that got recognition that I thoroughly enjoyed. I’m also glad there were movies such as ‘Barbie’ that was able to be appreciated. And by it being so popular it reached a lot of audiences that it wouldn’t have otherwise.”
“Barbie” was more than plastic people and flat feet, the meaning of the movie struck audiences everywhere. Junior Liv Jensen says she went into the movie not knowing much about it, saying “The trailer was Barbie! Pink! but it had a deeper meaning than the trailer showed.”
Starting as a young girl who liked to perform, now the director of Best Picture nominations, of huge box office success, actress of whimsical independent films, and writer of monologues upon monologues that are sounded and screamed and whispered and loved by little women everywhere, Gerwig’s career is profound, and it is still going. She knows what she was made for. Gerwig tells Time, “I know how that feels, that sense of, I can’t wait to get out into the thick of the world of makers and doers.”
