Excited for the opening of the new Barbie movie in theaters this week? We know we are! But did you know that director Greta Gerwig was also a competitive fencer? In an interview with DailyActor.com back in 2012 she talked about how acting is like a fencing match.
From the article she says, “There’s an economy in sports that I always think is a useful metaphor for acting. You have an objective. You’re trying to win, and of course, you want to do well. You want to use good techniques so you enforce it, but also you don’t do things you don’t have to do. It’s very economical, and I think that in acting the most economical way through a scene is always the best. It’s active. There is the sense of the fight and you want to win. Using that energy in a scene can really cut the fat off of something and streamline it. It can make it work for you and activate it for you in a way. If you’re just wallowing in the emotions of it, then sometimes it doesn’t get as clear as when you can just treat it like a fencing match.”
Below, check out the video where Gerwig demonstrated her fencing abilities on Vanity Fair’s Secret Talent Theater. Here, she goes over some of the basics of scoring a touch in both foil and sabre styles of fencing.
Of course, this isn’t the only Barbie-fencing crossover. In 2018, Mattel released an Ibtihaj Muhammad Barbie Doll to celebrate her namesake as the first Muslim-American woman to wear a hijab while representing Team USA in the Olympic Games. The doll was released as part of the “Shero” line honoring women that broke boundaries and inspired a new generation of young women. Ibti won a bronze medal in 2016 at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro competing in the team event for women’s sabre.
Barbie officially opens July 21, 2023. Hopefully, we’ll see Margot Robbie showcase some fencing skills of her own in the sequel!
