It is hard to imagine Greta Gerwig’s Barbie without the “I’m Just Ken” dream ballet scene, but the writer-director has revealed that she had to fight to keep it in the film.

During her Screen Talk at the BFI London Film Festival on Sunday, October 8, Gerwig says she was asked during a big meeting with executives if the dance sequence was truly necessary.

“It just said in the script, ‘And then it becomes a dream ballet, and they work it out through dance,’” Gerwig said. “There was a big meeting that was like, ‘Do you need this?’ And I was like, ‘Everything in me needs this.’ They were like, ‘What do you even mean? What is a dream ballet?’ And I was like, ‘A dream ballet? Where do I begin!’”

Luckily, Gerwig was able to convince them to keep it in the movie, citing the classic film Singin’ in the Rain as inspiration.

“I was like, if people could follow that in Singin’ in the Rain, I think we’ll be fine. I think people will know that this is. So that was the big reference point,” Gerwig said. “Even though everything felt right to me and was giving me so much joy in the way we were doing it, it was also like, ‘Oh no, this could be just terrible, but now I’m committed.”

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