"I thought it was a terrible idea"- Noah Baumbach admits initial negative reaction to Barbie

Greta Gerwig's Barbie became one of the biggest hits of the year and made some stark achievements all around the globe with its critical acclaim and box office numbers. Even after its digital release, Barbie continues to be a household name, a lot of credit for which also goes to the Barbenheimer trend, which pits the movie against Christopher Nolan's historical biopic, Oppenheimer.

But like many people, before the project was released, Noah Baumbach, who co-wrote the script with Greta Gerwig, initially saw little potential in the film. During the extensive promotional campaign for Barbie, the critically acclaimed director did not participate because of his commitment to the WGA strike.

Following a special screening at the Writers Guild of America West headquarters, Noah Baumbach finally shared his thoughts on Barbie while in conversation with Judd Apatow. Baumbach admitted to not being entirely convinced when Greta Gerwig signed him up for the project. He said:

"I thought it was a terrible idea and Greta signed me up for it,”....I was just like, ‘I don’t see how this is going to be good at all....I kind of blocked it for a while and every time she’d bring it up, I’d be like, ‘You’ve gotta get us out of this.’ And then the pandemic happened…"

Greta Gerwig, who was also present there, further added why Baumbach felt the project should not go forward. Quoting Baumbach, Gerwig added:

"There’s no character and there’s no story, so why do you want to do this? There’s no entry point.’ And he’d do, like, side calls to try to get us out of it"

But during the pandemic, Noah Baumbach slowly warmed up to the idea and eventually delivered one of the most successful films of the year.

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"Then it was the most fun I think either of us have ever had"- Noah Baumbach on how his perspective on Barbie changed

Initially, and even to this, many have failed to grasp the concept of the colorful Barbie, which tried to get through some concrete ideas through pink houses and doll characters. It was the same for Baumbach, who initially failed to see what the film was about.

But the pandemic proved to be the breakthrough when Greta Gerwig finally managed to make Noah Baumbach understand the point of the film with the help of illustrations.

Baumbach explained:

"It was Barbie waking up in her Dreamhouse and coming out to her backyard and meeting somebody who was sick and dying,...“I read these pages and I thought, ‘I understand now what this is.’ … The movie is about embracing your mortality and about the mess of it all, so it was exciting."

He went on to explain how it ultimately became one of the most fun projects for them. He added:

"Then it was the most fun I think either of us have ever had, right? And then at a certain point, I was like, ‘I think this is the best thing we’ve ever written.’ I know enough always just to follow what Greta says, so even in my bellyaching and revolting, I kind of knew, ‘Well if she really believes it, then there’s something there.’"

Ultimately, the film became one of the biggest films in history, making it a huge landmark in the careers of both filmmakers.

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Barbie is available for digital purchase and rent.