Greta Gerwig told America Ferrera her ‘Barbie’ monologue had impressed Meryl Streep

Christopher Rosen
·3 min read
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Toward the end of Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster smash “Barbie,” America Ferrera has a showstopping monologue where her character, Gloria, explains the contradictions, challenges, and pride that come with being a woman. It’s a standout moment for Ferrera, who has gotten rave reviews for her supporting performance in the film.

“It is literally impossible to be a woman. You are so beautiful, and so smart, and it kills me that you don’t think you’re good enough,” Gloria tells Barbie (Margot Robbie). “Like, we have to always be extraordinary, but somehow we’re always doing it wrong.”

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Speaking about the big scene in interviews, Ferrera said it was something that resonated with her immediately. “There’s no woman in my life who those words aren’t true for,” Ferrera told the Los Angeles Times. “Not a single one. And when we hear the truth, it hits in a certain way, and you can’t unhear it, right?”

Gerwig, too, noted how Ferrera felt uniquely perfect for the monologue – not just because Gloria is the only major human woman in a film filled with toys. “When I was working with America in rehearsal, she shared with me, from years earlier, something she’d written in a notebook, which was astonishingly similar to what the speech was,” Gerwig told the Los Angeles Times. “And it was like that thing in ‘The Shining’: ‘It was always you.’ We’d been, each in our way, coming to this moment. When she gave that speech, it was coming from such an unadorned true place inside of her.”

But while Gerwig felt Ferrera was destined to deliver the big “Barbie” speech, the scene wasn’t without fans. As Ferrera told Entertainment Weekly, Gerwig added some pressure by invoking three-time Oscar winner Meryl Streep.

“Greta didn’t make it easy. You were like, ‘There’s a monologue. Meryl Streep says she would like to do this monologue. I was like cool, no pressure!’” Ferrera said to the outlet, to which Gerwig responded, “I did. I actually did say that.”

Of shooting the scene, Ferrera said, “My experience of the moment was that Greta gave me so much space and so much trust. I obviously didn’t wanna eff it up. I wanted to do it justice.”

Much like she told the Los Angeles Times, Ferrera said to Entertainment Weekly that the substance of the monologue was something that felt universal.

“There’s no woman in my life that this isn’t true for,” she said. “So like, how do you tell the truth? That was the goal. I felt like I could go to all the places because I had so much trust that you would know what was right for the movie… I felt like that was freedom, to have so much trust in the leader of like, ‘She’ll know, so I’m free to do what I want and she’ll make it right.’”

“Barbie” broke box office records this week with more than $155 million in ticket sales, making it the biggest debut ever for a movie directed by a woman.

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