Greta Gerwig refused to use CGI to make Barbie actors' feet more arched: 'That's terrifying'
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Turns out, Greta Gerwig is less terrified of flaaaaaat feeeeet! than she is of CGI feet.
The director of the upcoming Barbie movie starring Margot Robbie said the studio entertained the idea of using CGI for the numerous Barbie actors to replicate their signature arched heels, but she immediately shut down the idea.
"There was a big discussion in the beginning," Gerwig said on Australian talk show The Project recently. "Everyone said, 'Are you going to CGI all the feet?' And I thought, 'Oh god, no! That's terrifying! That's a nightmare.'"
"Also," she added, "Margot has the nicest feet. She has these beautiful dancer feet. I was like, 'She should just hang onto that bar and do it just like this.'"
Robbie, also a producer on the movie, previously confirmed that the shot Gerwig referred to featured her real feet, explaining that she did hold onto a bar to achieve the scene. "I really don't like it when someone else does my hands or feet in an insert shot," she said in a recent Time cover story.
Gerwig added on The Project that the scene "felt like a Bat Signal," as did the typography of the giant B on the Barbie Land sign, to mark the introduction of the iconic doll. "Globally it's known, but also we kind of share this collective of what Barbie means," she said. "Even though it's this huge movie, it feels very personal to me. It was made by so many people who cared about it."
Warner Bros. Pictures A real, human, non-CGI'd heel in 'Barbie'
In theaters July 21, Barbie follows Robbie's central titular character as she experiences an existential crisis, and thus embarks on a trip from Barbie Land to the real world for answers about all the strange things that have been happening in her life. The most alarming of all? Her feet are no longer arched, much to the terror of her fellow Barbies.
Warner Bros. Pictures Ana Cruz Kayne, Sharon Rooney, Alexandra Shipp, Margot Robbie, Hari Nef, and Emma Mackey in 'Barbie'
Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Will Ferrell, Issa Rae, Michael Cera, and Hari Nef are among the star-studded cast.
Watch Gerwig and Robbie discuss the feet scene and more above.
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