The Barbenheimer week is upon us, with new movies by Christopher Nolan and Greta Gerwig packing audiences into theaters, potentially for double features that will deal with the creation of the first atom bomb, and the existential crisis facing Barbie (Margot Robbie). The best part about this weekend is that it’s not a gag. Both movies have been favorably reviewed (go read our Oppenheimer review, as well as our Barbie review), and if they are able to give the theatrical model a shot in the arm after a few lackluster performers, the industry as a whole will breathe easily. That doesn’t mean that Barbie wasn’t tinkered with on its way to the theaters, as director Greta Gerwig tells the ReelBlend podcast about an F-bomb she ultimately cut, and who it involved.
Barbie may look like it’s for kids, but that’s likely not the case. The movie carries a PG-13 rating, and based on the trailer, has plenty of jokes that would soar over the heads of young audience members. Like that homage to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. And as it turns out, there was a page-one F-bomb that Greta Gerwig decided to cut. And it involved … the first woman to win the Nobel Prize?! Gerwig is a guest on ReelBlend, CinemaBlend’s official podcast, and she told us about the scene she decided to cut, saying:
Suffice to say, there was a sort of extended joke with Marie Curie, which didn't end up being part of (the final cut). But yes, there was a page-one F bomb that sort of set the tone for the whole thing. What the line was, it was actually Helen Mirren saying to Marie Curie, ‘Pipe the fuck down, Marie Curie!’ That was like my favorite (line). … But we knew we only got one F bomb, and we were like, ‘Let's use it at the very beginning.’ And there's just something, to me, (about) Helen Muren saying, ‘Pipe the fuck down, Marie Curie.’
Greta Gerwig went on to confirm that Helen Mirren did indeed record the line. So somewhere out in the world, there’s audio of the Fast & Furious co-star (I’m kidding) telling Marie Curie to pipe the fuck down. And that’s wonderful. Here’s the complete Gerwig interview on this week’s ReelBlend:
Do you have tickets for Barbie yet? The movie is tracking to make north of $150 million, which would be a stellar opening for a comedy that’s resting on the power of proven IP, but isn’t a familiar franchise the way that Indiana Jones or Mission: Impossible are, with built-in audiences. Naturally, it’s being sold on the star power of Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Robbie’s feet, and the fact that it’s the latest movie from Gerwig, who is coming off of both Lady Bird and Little Women.
The month of July is ending very strong, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have plenty of upcoming 2023 movies still on the radar, so enjoy this weekend as a viewer, and then keep supporting the movie industry moving forward.
