On a sunny late-May morning, Gerwig is sitting at a conference table in the rented Manhattan office suite where she's finishing post-production, in one of the denim boiler suits she started wearing every day during the making of the movie (today's is black), her hair in a loose bun. It's 10.30, and she has a three-month-old baby at home (plus a fouryear-old and a 13-year-old stepson), so she's just now getting to breakfast, which she takes down as she embarks on two more hours of erudite Barbie talk.
Well before Barbie, Gerwig had one of the most fascinating careers in 21st-century Hollywood. First, she brought a new kind of daffy comedic naturalism to screen acting, from early mumblecore triumphs like Hannah Takes the Stairs to a string of brilliant collaborations with her partner, Noah Baumbach, including Greenberg, Frances Ha and Mistress America. She cowrote the last two movies before shifting gears to auteurdom in 2017, writing and directing the exquisite coming-of-age comedy Lady Bird, and 2019's revisionist take on Little Women.
Barbie, which stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling (and was co-written with Baumbach), is her biggest and most mainstream project. But she insists it doesn't feel that way. "I've never been part of anything like this," she says. "But in a funny way, it feels like the fundamentals are the same. Even though it is Barbie and it is an internationally known brand, the movie feels very personal. It feels just as intimate as Lady Bird or Little Women."
I know you tend to resist autobiographical interpretations, but when Barbie says, "I don't wanna be an idea anymore," something about that really reminded me of your transition from a much-discussed actress to a writer-director.
Esta historia es de la edición August/September 2023 de Rolling Stone UK.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición August/September 2023 de Rolling Stone UK.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Suitors and ties
Bridgerton's newest beau Victor Alli on joining the hit Netflix adaptation as the third season begins
Fran Healy
Travis’s lead singer on living in Los Angeles — the inspiration behind the band’s forthcoming album L.A. Times — streetfights with strangers and the unifying power of music
THE GREAT GADSBY
Comedy's enfant terrible Hannah Gadsby is relishing their anti-hero era
"I HAD TO GET OUT OF THIS DOOM HOLE"
After breaking every record imaginable with mega-hit 'Heat Waves', Glass Animals' Dave Bayley came back down to earth with a bump. Fourth album I Love You So F***ing Much sees him sift through the existential wreckage and focus on the fundamentals
SHABAKA'S NEW CALLING
“If I was still playing the sax, it’d be so easy,” the former Sons of Kemet and The Comet is Coming bandleader Shabaka Hutchings admits. On stunning debut album Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace, he turns to the flute and follows a spiritual compulsion to take a new path
GROWING PAINS AND HAPPY ENDINGS
OPENING HER HEART IN HER MUSIC HAS HELPED NELL MESCAL BUILD A DEDICATED FANBASE, BUT THERE'S PLENTY OF ROOM FOR HOPE TOO, THE 21-YEAR-OLD REVEALS, AS SHE RELEASES HER DEBUT EP
Star Rising
Currently starring in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Freya Allan broke through playing a princess in TV series The Witcher. But this 22-year-old has her feet firmly on the ground as she sets her sights on the future
The new Doctor Who is in!
How Ncuti Gatwa went from TV queer idol to making history on the iconic sci-fi show
Toni Sancho's manifesto of hope
The London-viaTrinidad singer discusses the power of music in helping her move past depression and uplift others
Making it up as they go along
Yeti funerals, big-name producers and a fiercely DIY ethic: we meet Mary in the Junkyard, the band making some of the best new rock music in the UK right now