If you liked 'Barbie,' Greta Gerwig says watch these next
The Barbenheimer fever is still on! And Greta Gerwig's Barbie is making it big at the box office. Directed and co-written by Gerwig, Barbie stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. Based on Mattel's Barbie fashion dolls, it follows Barbie and Ken's journey of self-discovery following an existential crisis. Here's a curation of five films from Gerwig's list that she cited to be Barbie's inspiration.
'Playtime'
This 1967 Jacques Tati-directed comedy film starring himself as the popular character, Monsieur Hulot, from his earlier films Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot (1953) and Mon Oncle (1958). Gerwig mentioned in an exclusive Letterboxd interview that Tati's works have inspired her majorly. "The way those movies unfold is just so perfect. I always thought of Mattel as existing slightly in Jacques Tati's world."
'Splash'
The 1984 romantic fantasy film Splash is a film Gerwig loved as a kid. It revolves around a young man who falls in love with a woman who is secretly a mermaid. "Splash is another movie that is utterly charming and works emotionally, even though it's so high concept and it's down to Daryl Hannah and Tom Hanks, who are so great," she said.
'The Ladies Man'
Jerry Lewis's The Ladies Man inspired Gerwig because of the opening. "They built this house that was cut out and then moved around the rooms with a camera in one continuous shot with all these girls getting ready. It's incredible. That's where I got the idea for the mirror that has nothing in it that you look through, and it's just her," she said.
'The Red Shoes'
Gerwig mentioned two Powell and Pressburger films as inspiration- A Matter of Life and Death and The Red Shoes. The 1948 British drama film revolves around a ballerina who has to choose between her love for her career and the love of her life. Gerwig said that "(these two films) exist in a category of their own: they're inventive and theatrical and also cinematic."
'The Truman Show'
Speaking about the 1998 satirical sci-fi film, Gerwig said, "I had to include The Truman Show both because I watched it again before I made this movie, and because Peter Weir very generously got on the phone with me before I started shooting, and he talked to me for a long time about how he shot it and how they made it work."
