Before Barbie, Greta Gerwig Directed Two Different Award-Winning Box Office Smash Hits
Greta Gerwig started out as an actor in movies like "House of the Devil" and the acclaimed "Frances Ha." In recent years, however, Gerwig has transformed into a remarkably successful director who finds herself behind one of 2023's most buzzed-about movies with "Barbie." The adaptation of Mattel's famed doll has become a downright cultural phenomenon and is poised to be one of the summer's biggest hits. While this may be the filmmaker's first foray into summer blockbusters, she has been behind the camera for major hits before, make no mistake.
Way back in 2008, Gerwig made her feature directorial debut with an indie called "Nights and Weekends." She co-directed the film with Joe Swanberg and, though received well at the time, it didn't make much of a dent commercially. Gerwig's acting career began to take off, so that's what she did for the better part of a decade. But when she finally stepped behind the camera again, this time without a co-director, magic happened. The kind of magic where a filmmaker can make something that is, all at once, commercially successful while also being widely acclaimed and decorated with prestigious awards. It's the kind of thing studios yearn for.
Gerwig went back-to-back with hits of this sort, starting with "Lady Bird" in 2017, following that up with an even bigger hit in 2019's "Little Women." In both cases, Gerwig asserted herself as the kind of filmmaker who can make commercially viable, genuine art. That's easier said than done, particularly these days. And the success of these movies is why she was given the keys to Mattel's most enduring pop-culture creation.
Lady Bird charms the world
For her solo feature directorial debut, Gerwig made a personal story taking place in 2002 in the form of "Lady Bird," which starred Saoirse Ronan in the lead role with a supporting cast that includes the likes of Beanie Feldstein, Timothee Chalamet, and Laurie Metcalf. It was a lengthy endeavor, with Gerwig working on the screenplay for a long time before securing financing to make the film in 2015. At one point, it was 350 pages. As she explained at a press conference in 2017:
"It was like 350 pages of stuff, that then I kind of looked at and figured out what felt essential and what felt like the core of the story to me. I don't really decide what the core of a story is before I write, I write to figure out what the story is."
The story that came from that massive document is about a relationship between a mother and her teenage daughter, Christine "Lady Bird" McPherson. The mom (Metcalf) is a nurse working tirelessly to keep her family afloat after Christine's father (Tracy Letts) loses his job. The end result was met with widespread acclaim and was distributed by arthouse aficionados A24, with the studio deciding to release the film right in the heart of awards season in November 2017. It all went very well.
Beginning with a modest opening weekend in several theaters and building out from there, "Lady Bird" became a smash word-of-mouth hit, ultimately taking in $80.1 million at the global box office against a mere $10 million budget. It was, for a time, A24's highest-grossing movie until "Hereditary" came along. Beyond that, the film garnered a great deal of awards season love, including five Oscar nominations, with Best Picture and Best Director for Gerwig among them. The AFI Awards also named it one of the ten best movies of the year. It was a tremendous success on every level.
Little Women does big business
How does one follow up such a smash success film? Ideally, with an even bigger hit, which is easier said than done. But that's precisely what Gerwig did with "Little Women" in 2019, which cemented her as a force to be reckoned with as a director. This time, she teamed with Sony Pictures and was working with a much larger budget of $40 million. Ronan came along for this ride as well, but the impressive ensemble cast was also filled out with the likes of Florence Pugh, Emma Watson, Laura Dern, and Meryl Streep, among others. It was a murder's row of talent.
This time, Gerwig was working with beloved source material in the form of Louisa May Alcott's book of the same name. Source material that has been adapted several times over, it's worth pointing out. So Gerwig had her work cut out for her both as a writer and director. But she actually fought hard for the job. The filmmaker had this to say when speaking with Screen Daily in January 2020:
"It was something I wanted to do because it was the book of my youth, of my childhood, of my heart, of my ambition, of what made me want me to be a writer, and also what made me want to be a director."
That passion came through and was similarly met with rave reviews. Sony released the film over Christmas in 2019, knowing they had an awards contender. What they might not have predicted is the remarkable financial success, with "Little Women" taking in $218.8 million worldwide. Making more than five times your movie's budget is no small thing. The fact that it was nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture (ultimately winning for costume design) was just icing on the cake.
What does all of this mean? In short, Barbie and Ken seem to be in very good hands. What Greta Gerwig touches turns to gold.
"Barbie" is in theaters on July 21, 2023.