For a movie based on a popular kids' toy, Barbie is actually pretty subversive in many ways, and gets away with including a few digs at the likes of Warner Bros. and Mattel, while also calling out toxic masculinity.
Director Greta Gerwig has previously confirmed that she decided to remove some profanity (we do get one censored F-bomb), but overall, the studio seems to have given her a lot of freedom.
However, WB did ask Gerwig to make one cut... and almost certainly not for the reasons you might be thinking!
Shortly after Barbie (Margot Robbie) and Ken (Ryan Gosling) arrive in the "real world," Babs sits down on a bench next to an older lady, and is transfixed by her (no one grows old in Barbieland). After starring for a few seconds, she tells the woman that she's "so beautiful," to which she replies with a smile, "I know it."
It's a lovely moment, but doesn't really have much to do with the main story, and the studio felt that removing it altogether would help the narrative flow.
“I love that scene so much,” Gerwig told Rolling Stone. “And the older woman on the bench is the costume designer Ann Roth. She’s a legend. It’s a cul-de-sac of a moment, in a way — it doesn’t lead anywhere. And in early cuts, looking at the movie, it was suggested, ‘Well, you could cut it. And actually, the story would move on just the same.’ And I said, ‘If I cut the scene, I don’t know what this movie is about.'”
“That’s how I saw it. To me, this is the heart of the movie,” she continued. “The way Margot plays that moment is so gentle and so unforced. There’s the more outrageous elements in the movie that people say, ‘Oh, my God, I can’t believe Mattel let you do this,’ or, ‘I can’t believe Warner Bros. let you do this.’ But to me, the part that I can’t believe that is still in the movie is this little cul-de-sac that doesn’t lead anywhere — except for, it’s the heart of the movie.”
Once you've seen Barbie, it's hard to argue with Gerwig's take. The scene may not have much bearing on the plot, but it does say a lot about Robbie's character and her journey of self-discovery.
Barbie is currently dominating the box office, and is already closing in on $300 million worldwide.
From Oscar-nominated writer/director Greta Gerwig (Little Women, Lady Bird) comes Barbie, which also stars America Ferrera (End of Watch, the How to Train Your Dragon films), Kate McKinnon (Bombshell, Yesterday), Issa Rae (The Photograph, Insecure), Rhea Perlman (I’ll See You in My Dreams, Matilda), and Will Ferrell (the Anchorman films, Talladega Nights), and more.
Gerwig directs from a screenplay she penned alongside Oscar nominee Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story, The Squid and the Whale), based on the iconic fashion dolls by Mattel.
The film’s producers are Oscar nominee David Heyman (Marriage Story, Gravity), Robbie, Tom Ackerley and Robbie Brenner, with Gerwig, Baumbach, Ynon Kreiz, Richard Dickson, Michael Sharp, Josey McNamara, Courtenay Valenti, Toby Emmerich and Cate Adams serving as executive producers.