7 Questions with BARBIE Director Greta Gerwig & DP Rodrigo Prieto

This Barbie is in IMAX  ‌ ‌ ‌   It's a Barbie World We're just living in it.   She's a timeless icon, the most popular girl in the world, and as of this summer-- a billion-dollar box office draw. We're of course talking about none other than Barbie. Introduced in 1959, this 64-year-old toy is still beloved the world over. Helmed by Greta Gerwig, the legend's big screen debut touches on the nature of play, imagination, make-believe, and how these things fit into the lives of both children and adults.  Starting her career in the art house space with cult favorites like BAGHEAD & FRANCES HA, Gerwig has now made history as the first ever solo female director to have a film make over $1 billion dollars. We sat down with her and cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto to chat about the film's upcoming re-release in IMAX, new bonus footage, and the world of Barbie. 7 Questions with BARBIE Director Greta Gerwig & Cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto 1. First of all, what was it like to experience this BARBIE again in IMAX? How was the experience different on our screens? Greta Gerwig: I mean, first of all it sounds and looks incredible. This is the most satisfying way to watch it for me. It feels like it really gets inside you, and I like the feeling of being really overwhelmed by it. That's exciting. So that feels very wonderful.   Rodrigo Prieto: You see every single detail, so including whatever might be a defect that we hadn't even noticed before. It seems to me like we had always planned to do the movie for IMAX somehow.   GG: Yes, yes. Yes.  RP: You know, it works so well on this big screen. 2. Can you speak a little about the aspect ratio and how that changed your experience of the visuals? GG: With the proportions and the format, the way we shot it and the aspect ratio it has that quality of making her look more doll-like-- this big screen, being shown vertically as a doll, which we’d always talk about. Dolls need vertical space. Even though it's huge, it somehow contains it, so it makes it more full.   RP: I mean, the moment in the 2001 sequence when you see her in the bang and in exactly the same time, the little girl at the bottom and on this big screen. It was really amazing. 3. The World of Barbie is so vibrant, impactful, and famously pink, with a lot of practical set elements, versus having it be all CG. What was it like seeing those practical elements in IMAX? GG: In seeing all the details, things that we've done that are purposefully almost homemade looking-- like in the transportation sequences, the wires and everything. In some formats you don't see as well. In this you can see the wires of the butterflies. It’s pleasing to me that you can see all the mechanics of it, because I want people to see the mechanics.  4. This film was already the toast of the summer, why should people come experience it again in IMAX?   GG: It goes back to when we were writing it. There were no movie theatres at the moment [due to the pandemic]. Would people even go to the movie theatres again? It was just starting to come back, and I just kept imagining making something so loud and outrageous and so bananagrams and outlandish that you’d want to be out there in a room full of people experiencing it together.   And so I always had this sense of people kind of sitting in the dark, being together on this. Just a totally wild journey. I think in that bigness, [IMAX] it’s the biggest of the big. There's something about the combination of the sound and the music that goes together. like it really is inside you. “It’s an 11” like they say in SPINAL TAP.  RP: Yeah,  it's very impactful. I mean, the movie is already and I saw it in a cinema in Mexico City.  It's a new experience and I I think that the movie is an experience already. but this really takes it to another level. Plus the bonus material!  GG: Bonus material!  5. Can you speak a little bit to the new, never-before-seen scenes exclusive to the IMAX presentation of the film? GG: There is some kind of look at that [on set energy] behind the scenes and then also just, as things go and movies, there's just a million little diamonds. We didn’t have space for every diamond, so this was a chance for me to get some jokes in.  RP: You know, even when I saw that film, I was like, oh, I loved it, I love everything about it, but I was like “Oh, I remember this thing we did.” But of course, it didn’t fit. So now there’s a chance to see some of those.   GG: The Fart Opera! You need to see it in IMAX! [laughs] It’s very sophisticated. Otherwise you wouldn't feel it under your seat and you wouldn't know. It wouldn't be funny or dramatic. 6. The cast for this film is stacked with some charismatic heavy hitters. As you were bringing this icon and her world to life, what was the vibe like on set? How did it compare to other projects you’ve worked on?  GG: I will say that it was the most joyful set I think I've ever, ever been around. It was the colors, It was the performers, and it was the most wonderful place to be. I would say there was this sort of joy that I think you can kind of palpably feel in the movie. It was actually there in the shoot. 7. And before we leave you, we must ask: if there's any movie you could experience again for the first time in IMAX, what would it be? GG: Well obviously, the one I ripped off- 2001 [A SPACE ODDYSSEY]. That's pretty overwhelming all the time.  RP: That's a good one for sure. I'll say, RAGING BULL. It’s just my favorite movie, and it’s spectacular in every way. I'd love to see the black and white images on the big screen like that.  GG: BLADE RUNNER would be good too.  RP: BLADE RUNNER! Oh my god, that’s a great choice!  GG: Yeah, that rain!--  RP: --that lighting!  GG: Yeah, would be good.  This piece was transcribed from a video interview. It has been edited for length and clarity. [Experience BARBIE in IMAX, for one week only,]( with new exclusive bonus footage.   Each month, we’ll deliver a new exclusive piece of editorial to your inbox. Send us a line about future questions or topics you’d like to see at [fandom@imax.com](mailto:feedback@imax.com?a=11533&campaign_id=106&campaign_name=%5BFINAL%5D+Sept+%2723+BARBIE+Special+Edition&campaign_type=newsletter&message_id=200&utm_campaign=%5BFINAL%5D+Sept+%2723+BARBIE+Special+Edition&utm_content=Gerwig+Interview+Excerpt&utm_medium=email&utm_source=owned).    IMAX® is a registered trademark of IMAX Corporation [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [TikTok]( [Letterboxd]( [unsubscribe]()