There's One "Really Funny" Joke Greta Gerwig Tried To Get Into "Barbie," And I'm Distraught It Didn't Make It In

Greta Gerwig is an auteur. The writer-director-actor is well known for her high brow humor and thoughtful reflections on society in her films, including her directorial efforts with Lady Bird, Little Women, and most recently Barbie.

But make no mistake: Greta isn't afraid of a simple joke, and we love her for it. In fact, she recently opened up about one of the most common joke formats that she pushed to get into Barbie.

“We’ve always tried to get in a proper fart joke, and we’ve never done it,” Greta told IndieWire of herself and her longtime film editor Nick Houy's efforts to add a flatulence farce to Lady Bird and Little Women. However, they didn't go through with it either time.

Repeated attempts at adding a fart joke to three very nuanced films! Here's my reaction to this news:

Truly, good for Greta. If she wants a fart joke in Barbie, she should get one. It's her right!

But it wasn't just one fart joke she envisioned for Barbie and apparently held firm on for much of the editing process. It was a cacophony of farts they wanted.

“We had, like, a fart opera in the middle [of Barbie]. I thought it was really funny. And that was not the consensus," she told IndieWire. Come to think of it, with all things Barbenheimer in mind, you could say Barbie almost had a bomb of its own...sorry!

“It was in the wrong place, too,” Houy added. “We need to work it into a more significant narrative moment next time.”

Fortunately, Barbie remained very funny without the fart opera, such as all things "mojo dojo casa house," literally every scene with Issa Rae as President Barbie, and an impeccable use the song "Push" by Matchbox Twenty.

Still, here's hoping Greta can finally get that fart joke in the upcoming Chronicles of Narnia films that she's working on next. I'd love to see (and hear) it.