‘Barbie’: Noah Baumbach Thought The Film Was A “Terrible Idea” When Greta Gerwig Signed Up For It

When it was announced that Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig were co-writing “Barbie,” with the latter taking on the directing gig as well, people were confused. Those are not the two names you’d associate with a massive IP-driven blockbuster film. Well, fast forward to now and it makes complete sense, as “Barbie” is the runaway hit of 2023. But according to Baumbach, when Gerwig first approached him with the idea, he was just as confused as everyone else.

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Speaking at a WGA West screening of “Barbie” (via Variety), Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig talked about the origins of their involvement in the film. Basically, Gerwig agreed to do it and roped Baumbach into the venture, somewhat against his will. 

“I thought it was a terrible idea and Greta signed me up for it,” Baumbach explained. “I was just like, ‘I don’t see how this is going to be good at all.’ I kind of blocked it for a while and every time she’d bring it up, I’d be like, ‘You’ve gotta get us out of this.’ And then the pandemic happened…”

Gerwig added that there were a number of issues Baumbach had with the idea of tackling “Barbie.”

“’There’s no character and there’s no story, so why do you want to do this? There’s no entry point.’ And he’d do, like, side calls to try to get us out of it,” she said.

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But then everything changed. After a while, Gerwig shared some pages from the script she was working on. And once Baumbach saw the big idea on paper, it all sort of clicked for him.

“It was Barbie waking up in her Dreamhouse and coming out to her backyard and meeting somebody who was sick and dying,” Baumbach said. “I read these pages and I thought, ‘I understand now what this is.’ … The movie is about embracing your mortality and about the mess of it all, so it was exciting.”

The rest, as they say, is history. The film would go on to be a massive hit, both critically and financially. “Barbie” has reached the upper echelon of pop culture dominance and is likely going to be a major player come awards time. So, even though Baumbach thought it might be a “terrible idea” to write the film, all’s well that ends well, right?