“It was coming from such an unadorned true place inside of her”- When Greta Gerwig said “it was always” America Ferrera for the Barbie monologue

By Hina Yadav

Modified Aug 17, 2023 13:19 GMT

America Ferrera’s monologue in Greta Gerwig's Barbie is this year’s most sought-after text for women to leave all expectations behind for a minute and just be. Ferrera’s delivery of the speech in the film left many fans with goosebumps and a reality check about the many facets of being a woman in today’s world. Barbie director Greta Gerwig shared with LA Times last month that having America take charge of the monologue was a moment “like that thing in The Shining: ‘It was always you.’ She also revealed that Ferrera shared with her during rehearsal “something she’d written in a notebook” long back but was “astonishingly similar to what the speech was.”

“And it was like that thing in ‘The Shining’: ‘It was always you.’ We’d been, each in our way, coming to this moment. When she gave that speech, it was coming from such an unadorned true place inside of her.” Greta Gerwig said.

America Ferrera was voted one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time in 2007 (Image via IMDb)

Greta Gerwig’s choice to make Gloria (America Ferrera) the face behind the monologue was a conscious decision as the director felt that she was more “us” and “Barbie just got flat feet yesterday.”

“America’s [Gloria is] a human, America’s us, America has lived in the world as a person and can kind of articulate all this,” Greta Gerwig said.

America Ferrera says director Greta Gerwig never gave her a “target" on how to deliver the famous Barbie monologue

Greta Gerwig’s faith in the Emmy Winner America Ferrera was so strong that she felt no need to ‘direct’ Ferrera on how to do her job in the pinnacle scene of the film Barbie. 39-year-old Ferrera told The Times that Greta Gerwig “never” gave her any guidelines on how to give the monologue and told her to “just do it and find out.”

“Greta never gave me a target. We talked about it, but she wasn’t like, ‘I want you to laugh here. And I want you to cry there.’ Even when I was like, ‘What’s the tone of this?’ she said, “I don’t know, let’s just do it and find out.’” America Ferrera said.

Greta Gerwig entrusted America Ferrera with Gloria's delivery of the monologue in Barbie (Image via Getty)

The actress, who has bagged a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award, also shared her sentiments about the monologue that’s taken the internet by storm. Ferrera shared her feelings about her Barbie monologue being a “truth” that resonates with every woman in her life.

“There’s no woman in my life who those words aren’t true for,” she told The Times. “Not a single one. And when we hear the truth, it hits in a certain way, and you can’t unhear it, right?” she said.

America Ferrera played Gloria in Barbie and delivered the iconic monologue about being a woman. (Image via Getty)

Netizens share their love for the Barbie monologue

Gloria’s monologue in Barbie touches upon the double face of expectations and stereotypes that are pressed upon the women of today and how the struggle to fit into all the boxes of ‘being a woman’ takes away their true identity. The speech addresses how this is all about a “doll just representing a woman,” and to comprehend its actual effect on the real lives of women is still a question mark. Netizens have shown nothing but love for the monologue, and they can’t stop talking about how much truth it holds compared to their real lives.

Warner Bros.’ Barbie stars Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Simu Liu, Michael Cera, and many more acclaimed stars. The Greta Gerwig film was released on 21 July 2023 and is the first film directed by a woman to cross $1 billion at the box office, leaving behind the previous billion-dollar box office film Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight.