Todd Haynes: “no doubt” Greta Gerwig saw my banned ‘Barbie’ film
nme.comSuperstar: The Karen Carpenter Story 36 years before Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster phenomenon.A 43-minute short film made at Bard College in New York State, Superstar depicts scenes from the life of the 1970s pop star using the children’s toys instead of real-life actors.Charting the rise and fall of Carpenter, who died from the eating disorder anorexia nervosa in 1983, Haynes’ controversial film uses the stick-thin dolls to emphasise Carpenter’s frailty and was banned after a copyright claim from the Carpenter estate.
It contains uncleared Carpenters tracks throughout and also makes claims about the sexuality of Karen’s brother Richard.Superstar has become a cult curio since then and Haynes, though he hasn’t seen Barbie, told NME in an exclusive interview that he’s pretty sure Gerwig is familiar with it.“I love Greta Gerwig.
I’m such a huge fan. And I have no doubt in my mind that she knows my film Superstar quite well,” he said. “It’s just a pretty well-known movie.
Even though it’s banned, it’s a movie that a lot of people, especially her age, [would have seen]… If you went through feminist film studies… most likely somebody showed it to you at some point.
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