Greta Gerwig Recalls How ‘The Muppets Take Manhattan’ Kicked Off Her Love of Film

Greta Gerwig received the director of the year award at the Palm Springs Film Awards on Thursday night, where she reflected on her journey to helming the biggest movie of 2023 with Barbie.

Accepting her honor from Margot Robbie and America Ferrera, Gerwig mused how in 2020 she presented the same award to Quentin Tarantino for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, “and I cannot believe and I am beyond honored that tonight it is being given to me.”

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“It took me a long time to say out loud that I wanted to be a director. But when I finally did say it, when I finally did say I wanted to direct and I did it, it was like getting to fall in love with movies all over again and to declare that love in the boldest terms possible,” Gerwig told the crowd at the awards gala, which was presented as part of the Palm Springs International Film Festival.

“My parents told me that the first film that they took me to was a rerelease of The Muppets Take Manhattan. When the credits rolled, they realized I wasn’t in my seat; I had run to the front of the theater and I literally tried to get into the screen, and I feel like I’ve been doing a version of that for my entire life,” she continued. “I’ve acted, I’ve written and produced, I’ve held booms and cameras and thrifted for costumes and done my hair and makeup, but nothing has given me a greater thrill or a greater satisfaction or a greater terror or a greater euphoria than directing. It is the way that I can live inside of the film for the maximum amount of time, to be with it through every moment.”

She added that every time she goes to the movies “and the lights go down, I get a chill and I say to myself, ‘I cannot believe that I get to add my own stories to what the story of cinema is.’ And I will spend the rest of my life forever running toward the screen trying to get in.”

Killers of the Flower Moon, Emma Stone, Cillian Murphy, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Jeffrey Wright, Carey Mulligan, Colman Domingo, Danielle Brooks, Billie Eilish, Finneas O’Connell and Paul Giamatti are also being honored at the event.

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