‘Barbie’s America Ferrera On “Healthy Pressure” Felt In Delivering “Cathartic” Third Act Monologue

deadline.com:

SPOILER ALERT: The following story contains details from the plot of Barbie. Barbie‘s America Ferrera has offered new insights into her experience preparing to deliver a showstopping monologue from the Warner Bros film’s third act.

In the film starring Margot Robbie as the iconic Mattel doll, Ferrera plays Gloria, a Mattel employee from the real world who, with daughter Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt), encounters Barbie, making it clear to this doll come to life that she’s great just as she is, even if society tends to place much pressure and many contradictory demands upon women.

The idea expressed, Ferrera explained in a recent interview with Vanity Fair, is about “the impossible assignment of being all things to all people.” Ferrera shared that when filmmaker Greta Gerwig first approached her about the role of Gloria and this specific monologue, it was “flattering” but at the same time “felt like pressure in the nicest way.” When the actress read the speech, she explained, “it hit me as powerful and meaningful.

It also felt like, wow, what a gift as an actor to get to deliver something that feels so cathartic and truthful. But it also felt like this pivotal moment that I obviously didn’t want to mess up.