The female film-maker and Director of the box office sensation “Barbie”, Greta Gerwig, is the “Woman of the Year 2024” selected by TIME Magazine. Barbie, which she co-wrote and directed, grossed more than $ !,4 billion at the box office, making it the highest-grossing film ever directed by a woman.
or writer, director, and actress Greta Gerwig, the excitement of a project comes in taking on a film with an “element of adventure.”
“A great thrill that I get is figuring out how to build my wings on the way down, just kind of leaping from the tallest thing I can find,” Gerwig said during an interview with TIME senior editor Lucy Feldman at the 2024 TIME Women of the Year gala in West Hollywood on Tuesday. Gerwig is one of 12 women recognized this year for their contributions to building a more equal world.
The 40-year-old director became the first person to have her first three solo feature films—Lady Bird, Little Women, and Barbie—each nominated for “Best Picture” at the Academy Awards. The key to a Gerwig film, she says, has to do with her decision to take on ambitious projects, a topic which she expounded on before discussing the possibility of a Barbie sequel.
“Sometimes, because I write and direct, I write things that I genuinely sit back and think, ‘I have no idea how I’m actually going to accomplish that.’ And that’s actually the most exciting feeling. Because then you can gather people— gather your designers, your heads of departments—and everybody kind of figures out something that’s never been done before. And that’s thrilling.”
Gerwig’s latest blockbuster film, Barbie, is nominated for eight Oscars and broke box-office records, with its summer 2023 theatrical release grossing at least $1.4 billion worldwide.
Gerwig said that when she works on a film, she has to find an “undertow.” For Barbie, the undertow was the intergenerational struggle behind the doll. “I remember going to Toys R Us and looking at the Barbies, and I loved their hair. And I loved everything about them. And my mom was not sure about it. And I thought that’s the story,” Gerwig says. A sequel to the film would be dependent on her finding a similar element.
