There is something really special about film festivals that takes you beyond the story.
At particular screenings or events, one often has the opportunity to meet the creators of the movie itself— sometimes the director, other times, the actors or subjects. It’s a unique opportunity to see behind the veil of the filmmaking, and to understand the final product more.
Which is why I jumped at the opportunity to attend the Palm Springs Film Festival. The proximity of Palm Springs to Los Angeles, and its earliness in the ‘festival calendar’ makes the Palm Springs Film Festival (PSFF) an important one— an easy jaunt from L.A., this also means that actors and directors can attend premieres, give talks, and assess the reaction to their creations.
In 2023, no film had been bigger than Barbie (by the time of the film festival, it had been out for 6 months and had rocketed into the history books, becoming a Top-20-Grossing-Movie-of-All-Time). And when checking out the schedule of events, I happened to notice a screening of Barbie (a film I hadn’t seen since July, when it opened in theaters). I had wanted to see it again, so I looked at the details: and my heart nearly stopped.
The director of the film— Greta Gerwig— would be present at the screening, and be part of a Q&A at the end. I could hardly believe my luck! Long before Barbie, I had been a bit of a ‘Greta Gerwig Stan’ and I was excited to be in the same room with a woman who made so many films that had such strong resonance with me.
Just $25 later, I had a ticket.
If you know anything about film festivals, then you know that Pass holders (people who are patrons of the festival), generally get their own entry line, and general admission queues separately. For crowded screenings, one might even arrive early to secure a position in line to ensure a decent seat. Typically, this isn’t a competitive exercise.
But on the day of the Barbie screening with Greta, there was a line formed over an hour before the movie. And of COURSE everyone was wearing pink, sequins, or some semblance of an outfit that paid tribute to the Barbie movie or the gags within it.
The crowd was buzzing— buzzing— about Greta Gerwig being there. The excitement was palpable— the movie itself was a fun one, and the atmosphere was both enthusiastic and bubbly, with people (men and women!) greeting each other by saying, “Hi, Barbie!” as a callback to the same line in the film. We poured into the theater and took our places, and the opening credits of ‘Barbie’ began.
As the lights went up at the end of the movie, a writer from the magazine “Variety” came onstage to introduce the woman of the hour: Greta Gerwig walked out onstage in a flowing but tailored pantsuit, that hugged her to the point of looking perfectly-fitted.
She was smiling so broadly, it was hard to imagine her movie wasn’t making its world premiere, but instead— had already been in theaters for the past 6 months. Her enthusiasm was so real, and her smile was so large as she acknowledged the crowd’s applause (and standing ovation)— that it was clear it was truly genuine, and not some modicum of fake-graciousness.
In fact, the filmmaker was near tears as people stood from their seats and thunderously applauded (and hooted and hollered praise, too).
When she sat to be interviewed, there was some technical difficulties with the microphones— standing suddenly, she shed the mike and used a booming voice to address each question one by one, on her feet rather than sitting. The effect was to remove a wall of sorts— rather than a celebrity or distinguished panelist, she was just one of us— a human standing there, as if at a cocktail party— answering questions about her passion project.
And boy, did she answer them. I’m going to post some of the videos below of her answers– because they were informative, warm, and incredibly genuine.
Greta’s responses were so gracious and authentic— she revealed new things— telling the audience anecdotes that despite scouring articles about Barbie for months, I had never seen or heard before. She seemed thrilled to be engaging about the movie, rather than begrudging yet-another-interview.
Here she is talking about Ryan Gosling’s commitment to the role of Ken– you can hear how she ‘fan girls’ out for his talent and yet– she is the director of the film! The way she was awed by him EVEN STILL really spoke to how gloriously humble she was about this successful film.
Greta made her love for Margot Robbie apparent, and the description she gave of their working partnership was beautiful. Robbie, having produced the film, was adamant in protecting the script (which of course, was borderline sacrosanct to the Barbie brand and American culture) from intervention during the writing— a process which Gerwig credited with the final product’s lack of convention or propriety.
Here she is talking about how Margot Robbie was seminal in the film’s making AND how her performance as inanimate-plastic-doll-on-a-journey-toward-humanity was overlooked perhaps BECAUSE Margot made it look so very easy.
As time went on, Greta shared a couple other anecdotes and factoids I found compelling:
- Apparently, she wrote the role of Gloria specifically for America Ferreira, despite only having met her briefly. She had been exuberant when Ferreira accepted, and on their first meeting, America asked Greta: “How did you know my husband was doing Duo Lingo?”— a reference to the part of the film in which the character’s fictional husband is practicing Spanish. Greta was baffled: “He IS? I had no idea!”— at which point, America relayed a particularly funny moment in which her husband had stepped on a cringey cultural thorn by using the phrase “Si Se Puede”— which he had picked up in lessons. Greta wrote it right into the script.
- Her husband, Noah Bambauch, didn’t know he was being ‘drafted’ by Greta to write the screenplay, which she volunteered him for entirely without his permission
- Greta didn’t have any idea what Billie Eilish was going to write for the track that would be the emotional center of the film, but talked about how collaboration is the very best part of filmmaking in her eyes— she said the script ‘had a hole’ until Billie’s song came to fill it.
I’m sure that Greta imparted other knowledge, but what I remember of that day was the way in which she made me feel like I’d gotten to hear a behind-the-scenes story of one of the most successful films ever made. That Greta was so generous in her demeanor was the thing that stuck with me– as well as her clear love of filmmaking.
If you haven’t seen Barbie, what are you waiting for?! If you haven’t been to a film festival before, check one out– surprisingly, most screenings often don’t sell out.
Posted by Sun
