Barbie director Greta Gerwig reveals questionable scene that was edited out

Despite the writer-director’s humorous intentions, a ‘fart opera’ scene was not received well by early viewers

Greta Gerwig has revealed a scene that ended up being removed from the final cut of Barbie.

The filmmaker directed the hit film, based on the Mattel doll, as well as co-wrote the script with her partner Noah Baumbach.

Starring Margot Robbie as the titular plastic figurine, with Ryan Gosling as her beach-loving companion Ken, the film has broken several box-office records since its cinematic release last Friday (21 July).

In a recent podcast interview, Gerwig, 39, provided some insight into the filmmaking process.

Appearing with her longtime editing collaborator Nick Houy, she revealed that they’d hoped to sneak in a gag about flatulence that she found “really funny” – but others did not.

“We’ve always tried to get in a proper fart joke and we’ve never done it,” Gerwig said on the latest episode of Filmmaker Toolkit podcast, by IndieWire. “We had like a fart opera in the middle [of Barbie]. I thought it was really funny. And that was not the consensus.”

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

Houy has worked on two of Gerwig’s other releases: Lady Bird (2017) and Little Women (2019).

Greta Gerwig (Getty Images for Warner Bros.)

Elsewhere in their conversation, the pair discussed the necessity of testing the film in front of smaller audiences to gauge the reactions to certain scenes, as Barbie is “so much more a comedy” than their other movies.

“So we were just, like, ‘Let’s put it in front of people and see how they react’,” Houy explained. “Everyone’s different and every screening’s different and we’ve definitely learned, over the years, that you really have to let things have their fair chance and then act accordingly. Once you know it’s dead, you have got to get it out of there.”

Though Barbie has been met with many positive reviews, some right-wing pundits including Piers Morgan and Ben Shapiro have voiced objection to the film’s feminist messaging.

Gerwig responded to the “passion” of the dissenting voices in a conversation with the New York Times.

“My hope for the movie is that it’s an invitation for everybody to be part of the party and let go of the things that aren’t necessarily serving us as either women or men,” she offered.

You can read The Independent’s five-star review here.