Barbie director Greta Gerwig revealed that executives behind the film considered using computer-generated imagery for one of the movie’s most anticipated scenes — but thankfully, she shut down the “terrifying” idea.
“There was a big discussion in the beginning. Everyone said, ‘Are you going to CGI all the feet?’” Greta said during a recent interview on Australia’s The Project.
When the Barbie trailer dropped in May, there was one particular clip that stirred up a lot of talk on social media: the already iconic scene in which Margot Robbie’s Barbie character walks in pink heels before stepping out of them on her tiptoes to show off the Mattel doll’s signature arched feet.
After the trailer’s release, fans swarmed social media with questions about how the scene was shot and if they were truly Margot’s real feet.
“I thought, ‘Oh god, no! That’s terrifying! That’s a nightmare,’” Greta said of the idea of resorting to CGI for the live-action film’s scene, adding: “Also, she has the nicest feet. She has these beautiful dancer feet.”
In the end, Greta said she wound up having Robbie “hang on to” a bar off camera to keep her feet perfectly flexed in Barbie’s trademark style.
Margot detailed how she was able to pull off the arched foot scene in a viral TikTok last month that has since amassed more than 10 million views.
“It was probably about eight takes. Wasn’t that many,” the two-time Oscar nominee explained.
“They are my feet. I walked up, we had little sticky bits on the floor for the double-sided tape for the shoes, so they wouldn’t come off so that I could get my feet out of them and I was holding on to a bar, but that’s it.”
She added: “I wasn’t in a harness or anything like that. I just walked up, kind of held onto the bar above camera.”
Barbie, which also stars Ryan Gosling, Will Ferrell, Michael Cera, America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon and others, is slated to arrive in cinemas on 21 July.