Barbie director refused to use “terrifying” CGI for feet

Greta Gerwig didn’t overuse CGI for her new movie Barbie, as that would have resulted in some very odd feet choices.

Wrapped in plastic, she’s fantastic, and her movie is looking like it’s going to be fantastic as well. Barbie, the upcoming film by Greta Gerwig, is looking to be one of the most highly anticipated movies of the year.

Barbie films have always been well-loved, and there’s a lot of hype surrounding this movie and its trailers. One iconic image that has spanned from said trailers is of Barbie’s feet, as she steps out of her classic pink fluffy heels.

However, apparently this shot could have been a lot more disturbing, if director Greta Gerwig hadn’t stepped in.

Greta Gerwig avoided CGI for Margot Robbie’s feet in Barbie

CGI is arguably overused nowadays. From the debacle with Marvel, to the horror that was 2019’s Cats, CGI is being viewed less and less favorably by moviegoers. Thankfully, Barbie is seemingly relying on a lot of practical sets and effects, including in the Barbie pointed-toe scene.

Barbie’s arched feet were initially set to be enhanced by CGI, but Gerwig shut those ideas down very early on.

“There was a bit discussion in the beginning,” Gerwig explained on The Project (via Variety). “Everyone said, ‘Are you going to CGI all the feet?’ And I thought, ‘Oh god, no! That’s terrifying! That’s a nightmare.’ Also, Margot has the nicest feet. She has these beautiful dancer feet. She should just hang on to that bar and do it just like this.”

Robbie previously revealed to People that those really are her feet, and that the scene didn’t take many attempts: “It probably took about eight takes, wasn’t that many,” she explained. “They are my feet.”

“I walked up, they had little sticky bits on the floor, like double-sided tape, for the shoes so they wouldn’t come off so that I could get my feet out of them. I was holding onto a bar, but that’s it. I wasn’t in a harness or anything like that.”

Robbie, like Gerwig, also preferred the more practical effect of her work: “I always try to do my own inserts. I don’t like when I watch a movie and I know it’s not my hands,” she stated. “I hate that so much. I always say to the director, ‘Please let me know my own things.’ I don’t like knowing that I didn’t do them.”

Barbie will strut into cinemas on July 21, 2023. For more information on the movie, click here.