Dafter being snubbed by the five Oscars for directing and after his Barbie came away empty-handed from the Baftas, the awards for the best Anglo-Saxon cinema, the Time, instead, he named her woman of the year: and so Greta Gerwig conquers the cover of the iconic magazine.
Greta Gerwig is Time’s woman of the year
The filmmaker of Lady Bird And Little Women was chosen together with twelve other “trailblazers”, women from all over the world who dedicated themselves to making others emerge in parallel with their success: among these the Nobel Prize winner Nadia Muradthe tennis player Coco Gauffthe Nobel Prize for economics Claudia Goldin and the geneticist Marlena Fejzo.
Barbie’s failure at the Oscars
Gerwig was interviewed by Time in London, where he is working on the Netflix adaptation of the first book of the Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis, a project long in the making, and has broken the silence on the “failure” at the Oscars of Barbie in the best director category, as well as on Robbie’s omission from the best actress category: «Sorry, but for me the right thing is to continue making films. Regardless of what happens, good or bad, you have to move forward » she explained.
Recognition in the world
Let’s say that apart from the Oscar, its subversive Barbie, didn’t miss a beat: the biggest film of the year and the highest-grossing, $1.4 billion at the box office, ever achieved by a film by a female director. But not only: because Barbie was also a pop culture phenomenonfrom “I Am Kenoug” hoodies to America Ferrera’s third-act monologue about the impossible pressures women face in all areas.
Art and business
Gerwig’s story, then, says the Timeis as much about commerce as it is about art: his films are human, emotional and playful but they also make a killing at the box office: his semi-autobiographical directorial debut with Lady Bird, it grossed $79 million against a $10 million budget; the next, an adaptation of the beloved Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, It had a budget of $40 million and grossed $231 million: both extraordinary returns on investment.
The strength of Greta Gerwig
Commercial triumphs that reflect, however, the way her work resonates in culture, particularly among women and girls, whose emotional lives and ambitions Gerwig explores in her films. «There is no genre that Greta wouldn’t be good at tackling – said Steven Spielberg, not just anyone and a long-time mentor and admirer of the director – exceptional in combining her interest in character studies and her instinct as a natural entertainer».
We start again from the Chronicles of Narnia for Netflix
After the Oscars, Gerwig will return to work on Narnia, the literary saga by CS Lewis, of which he is preparing to write and direct at least two films. Ted Sarandos, CEO of Netflix, defines Gerwig an “incredible visionary”but on the films he reassures audiences who loved the story: “It won’t be contrary to how audiences might have imagined those worlds – but it will be much bigger and bolder than they ever thought.”
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