Unpacking Barbie with Barbie Director Greta Gerwig
We’re switching from Equalman green to Barbie pink on today’s 7 super tips episode with Barbie director Greta Gerwig. Gerwig is an American actress, screenwriter, and director. She has written and directed the coming-of-age films Lady Bird (2017) and Little Women (2019), both of which earned nominations for the Academy Award for Best Picture. For the former, she received Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, and for the latter, she was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay. Gerwig was included in the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world in 2018. Her directorial feature, the fantasy comedy Barbie (2023), which she co-wrote with her partner Noah Baumbach, has become the first film from a solo female director to gross over $1 billion worldwide.
5x #1 Bestselling Author and Motivational Speaker Erik Qualman has performed in over 55 countries and reached over 50 million people this past decade. He was voted the 2nd Most Likable Author in the World behind Harry Potter’s J.K. Rowling.
Need a sneak peek? Below are the main takeaways from the episode.
Unpacking Barbie with Barbie Director Greta Gerwig
Episode Preview:
“I love films, and I love cinema. And I really didn’t want to disrespect the form by not knowing what I was doing. So I as an actor, and as a writer, and a co-writer, and I produced and I edited, and I held the boom, and I did almost everything you can do on a film set to get this experience in. And then when I finished this draft, I was like, Okay, this is I got it, this is going to be the one. And I think I see, because I’ve spent so much time as an actor, I’ve seen so many different directors on sets. And I think most directors are only ever on their own set. They don’t actually know how anybody else does it. And I’ve seen so many different ways of working with crew and actors and department heads. And I felt like the biggest thing I think a director can do is create a is, is to create almost a bubble of magic safety for their actors and for their department heads and hold the perimeter so that they feel safe to play and bring their whole selves.
…
I’m not good at thinking about steps and careers because I think I always get a little off track when I think that way. Every choice I’ve ever made that I’ve thought like God, this is a good choice for my career. Is not that I mean, occasionally I’ve been like, Oh, that was very lucky. I got that. Oh, good. But anytime I’m like, making a decision, and then I’m like, this is smart for the career. But just I don’t know it doesn’t turn out the way I wait. It’s it. It’s always some other thing that happens. So I try not to really think about that because that doesn’t seem to help. But in terms of intellectualizing it. I mean as far as I can tell what I do is I try to I try to read a lot I try to find a lot of materials and music and things that make me feel like the person and physical things and ways of walking and shoes and everything I can kind of load myself up with and then the lines, especially if it’s a good script, like the rhythm and the feeling of the lines. If it’s a director I love I watch everything over and over again and try to keep myself in their world. So I feel like I’m part of it like, and I’m sort of, like their arm or something. But then when I’m on set moment to moment, I just try to let all of that exist in an, almost unexamined way inside me, because it’s almost a game load up, and then I try to let it all go. I don’t know if it like if that’s the best way. It’s just, I think now that I’ve looked at different pieces of whatever work I’ve done in film and theater that, that seems to be what it is.”
To ensure you don’t miss future episodes, subscribe to our podcast by clicking here >> Super U Podcast. We hope these tips help unlock and unleash your inner superpower!
The Super U Podcast is hosted by #1 bestselling author and Motivational Speaker Erik Qualman.
