Barbie may be the queen of confidence — but Margot Robbie didn’t always feel that way on the film’s set.
Apparently, as soon as the movie started filming scenes in public, Margot started feeling “self-conscious” because of how she was treated by fans.
In an interview with Barbie director Greta Gerwig, she explained that Margot’s experience actually mirrored the film.
“How Barbie operates in Barbieland is she’s entirely continuous with her environment,” Greta told Rolling Stone. “Even the houses have no walls, because you never need to hide because there’s nothing to be ashamed of or embarrassed of.”
Greta continued, “And suddenly finding yourself in the real world and wishing you could hide, that’s the essence of being human.”
She explained that when the crew actually started shooting on Venice Beach with Margot and Ryan Gosling in their iconic rollerblading outfits, Margot went through the same thing as Barbie.
“People would go by Ryan, high-five him, and say, ‘Awesome, Ryan, you look great!’ And they wouldn’t actually say anything to Margot,” Greta revealed.
She added, “They’d just look at her. It was just surreal. In that moment, she did feel self-conscious.”
While Greta says she wanted to protect Margot, the situation also simultaneously helped her channel the same feelings as Barbie.
“As the director, I wanted to protect her. But I also knew that the scene we were shooting had to be the scene where she felt exposed,” Greta said. “And she was exposed, both as a celebrity and as a lady.”
“I can’t tell you how mortified we were,” Margot said on The Tonight Show. “We look like we’re, like, laughing and having fun, but we’re dying on the inside. Dying. I was like, this is the most humiliating moment of my life.”
View this video on YouTube
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon / Via youtube.com
You can read all that Greta had to say here.
