Margot Robbie-starrer Barbie was the biggest blockbuster of last year. The actor who also produced the film, has now opened up about overcoming ‘actor crisis’ filming began on Barbie in an interview with Los Angeles Times. Writer-director Greta Gerwig also recalled the time when the actor was having a meltdown on the prospect of taking on the role.
Speaking with Los Angeles Times, Margot Robbie said, “I went to Greta’s house and had that crisis. I’d spent years trying to get this movie going. And suddenly we’re going to shoot the thing. I was like, ‘Oh my God, I dunno how to do this.’ It happens before every single movie I’ve ever done. A few weeks out, I have this meltdown where I’m like, ‘What am I doing? I don’t know how to act. Everyone’s going to suddenly realize that I can’t do any of this, and it’s going to be terrible.’ And then it is just sheer panic.”
Greta Gerwig also added to describing the situation, saying that she understood the situation. “I have a distinct memory of Margot coming over to my house before we started shooting and having a bit of an actor crisis: ‘How am I doing this?’ It’s the actor equivalent of facing a blank page,” she said.
Barbie revolves around Margot’s stereotypical Barbie, who has an existential crisis when she starts to lose her spunk and her famous perched Barbie toe. To get to the bottom of the mystery, she’s told to go where no Barbie doll has gone before – ‘the real world’. With Ryan Gosling’s Ken, she then jets off in her pink convertible to experience the ‘real world’.
Greta Gerwig’s Barbie was recently nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Supporting Actress for America Ferrera, Supporting Actor for Ryan Gosling, Costume Design, Production Design and Best Adapted Screenplay for Gerwig and Noah Baumbach. After Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie were shut out off the Best Director and Best Actress race respectively, many fans called out the Oscars on social media.