The BARBIE Movie Almost Included a "Fart Opera" Because Director Greta Gerwig Likes Fart Jokes
Barbie director Greta Gerwig and her editor Nick Houy recently appeared on IndieWire's Filmmaker Toolkit podcast, where they talked about how much they love a good fart joke. Gerwig explained that in every film they’ve made, they’ve always tried to include a fart joke. She said:
"In every movie we've made together, we've always tried to get in, like, a proper fart joke, and we've never done it.”
Houy went on to say that whenever they attempted to get a fart joke into a movie the joke "dies like two-thirds of the way through editorial." That’s probably for the best, but when Barbie came along, they thought they had the perfect film to place a fart joke in. Houy said:
"[W]e had a lot of fart jokes in this one, so I thought there was a chance we would get one in. Much higher chance of it being in 'Barbie' than 'Little Women.' [laughs] ... It's too bad. We had a whole fart scene, kind of, in this one. Too bad it didn't make it."
Gerwig then revealed that not only were fart jokes in Barbie, but there was also a whole “fart opera.” The more I write about this and these fart jokes, the more this sounds like a fake news article, but it’s not! This is real, and Gerwig said:
"We had like a fart opera in the middle. We really put together this giant fart opera, and everyone was like — and I thought it was really funny. That was not the consensus."
Houy added: "It was in the wrong place, too. We need to work it in to a more significant narrative moment next time. That's my plan."
There are no details regarding how the fart opera would have played out, but I can only imagine that the fart opera would’ve involved all the Kens while they were taking over Barbieland and transforming it into Ken’s bro-paradise. But, who knows! Maybe the scene involved all the Barbie characters getting together for the big fart opera!
Maybe one day Gerwig and Houy will actually get a fart joke in one of their movies. It doesn’t sound like they’re going to give up on that dream. Maybe they’ll use it in the Barbie sequel that will eventually happen! Regardless, I can’t help but wonder where they were looking to place a fart joke in Little Women.