Greta Gerwig, now set to adapt two Narnia movies, was surprised to be accused of selling out
Greta Gerwig wants to be a "big studio director," even if it means cashing in on the I.P. era of cinema
We’re at a critical juncture in cinema where the industry has to figure out how it’s going to survive, and right now the answer looks like superheroes and stuff. Emerging filmmakers tend to be snapped up into the Marvel machine or are otherwise drawn into adapting existing I.P. (intellectual property), and some of that IP doubles as commercials for products. Take Greta Gerwig: she may not have done a superhero extravaganza, but she went from a critically acclaimed original directorial debut (Lady Bird) to Little Women to Barbie to, soon, The Chronicles Of Narnia.
Yes, The New Yorker has confirmed that Gerwig will write and direct at least two Narnia films for Netflix. That kind of franchise filmmaking couldn’t be further from Gerwig’s indie roots (Frances Ha, Mistress America), which is perhaps why some online denizens have accused her of selling out. Per The New Yorker, Gerwig “was caught off guard” that people should make this complaint about her work on Barbie, which “felt as natural” to her as making Little Women.
Gerwig nevertheless stipulates (while praising Mattel’s Richard Dickson) that she doesn’t “have a ton of friends in corporate America,” which is a funny thing to say for an artist who apparently has a big Netflix deal and a film coming out with more than 100 brand partnerships, per The Guardian. (To name a few: Gap, Forever 21, Airbnb, NYX Cosmetics, Xbox, and etc.)
Cinephiles may be put off by this evolution of the form, but as Gerwig’s agent, U.T.A.’s Jeremy Barber, notes, that’s the era we’re in, like it or not. “Is it a great thing that our great creative actors and filmmakers live in a world where you can only take giant swings around consumer content and mass-produced products? I don’t know. But it is the business. So, if that’s what people will consume, then let’s make it more interesting, more complicated,” he argues. And it’s an evolution that Gerwig is an active participant in: “Greta and I have been very consciously constructing a career. Her ambition is to be not the biggest woman director but a big studio director. And Barbie was a piece of I.P. that was resonant to her.”
She won’t just take any old I.P. project, however, telling the outlet she probably wouldn’t do another toy film. “It would have to be something that has some strange hook in me, that feels like it goes to the marrow,” she says. “I don’t know if there’s a doll that anyone is as mad at.” Regardless, Mattel has 45 other projects in the works, so they’re betting people really care about their toys.