Jodie Foster Thinks Warner Bros. Support for Greta Gerwig's 'Barbie' is ‘New for Women Directors’
Jodie Foster Thinks Warner Bros. Support for Greta Gerwig’s ‘Barbie’ is ‘New for Women Directors’ is a documentary video that features an interview with Alex, Alo and Jodie Foster. The video provides a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the documentary and explores how the project came to be. Alex discusses the inspiration behind the film and the experience of following Alo with a camera, capturing raw and powerful moments. Jodie Foster praises the documentary, expressing how moved and changed she felt after viewing the footage. The conversation delves into the themes of the film, including the power of compassion and love, and the message of unity and inclusivity. The video also sheds light on Alo’s journey as a trans person and the importance of familial and chosen support networks. The documentary is presented as a platform for sharing profound and impactful messages, intended to uplift and inspire viewers, especially during difficult times. It concludes by expressing the importance of friendship and unity as an antidote to despair, and the need for unification during challenging times. Overall, the video provides a thought-provoking and inspiring discussion about the power of storytelling and the impact of new voices in the film industry.
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The documentary probably should have been about my mind being blown and my heart going wide open every single Minute oh thank you all for being at our sundan studio um and Alex I wanted to start with you what inspired you to want to make this doc and did you have to convince Al to agree well starting with a real question starting with a real question I met Alo
And immediately was taken by the way they express themselves the message their extraordinary mind and heart and spirit and kind of right away asked you if I could start following you with a camera I I sort of imposed myself on you and you were very gracious Alo what was your reaction when
You first heard Alex’s pitch I mean the proof is in the pudding Alex takes a mean Instagram photo so and when it wasn’t just my opinion when I I remember I posted a photo that Alex had taken me people like this is a really amazing photo I was
Like okay so the audition was met with amazing success and I said sure why not and there felt something kind of like Punk about just like I just want to come with you on tour I don’t really know what I’m doing I just want to Capture
Moments I was like okay cool um but touring with me is chaos so I I had to let Alex know you’re not going to be sleeping um you’re going to be having existential crises every day you’ll probably not be able to sleep when you go to your bed cuz you’ll be processing
Everything that we just witnessed is that what happened for you that is exactly what happened the the documentary probably should have been about my mind being blown and my heart going wide open every single minute it was such an experience just being with them and I wanted to capture that I
Wanted to share it with as many people as possible and it sounds like you went in maybe without an exact vision of what this was going to be so once you did capture all of this footage how did you put it together into this short it was
Important for me to go in without an agenda other than just following the yes that said I want to be around and with and follow this person so once I started recording them and shooting them the story really unfolded over time I wasn’t even sure what it was probably
Until I was 30 hours into the footage and um Jody how did you get involved and it is working with your spouse a decision you make lightly well um I got very lucky because I was able to see some of the footage and recognize immediately that there was
It was that it was powerful that I felt changed by it I felt um uh challenged by it which is I think the point you know and as the the the older Elder Statesmen of the group um for me learning something is the whole point uh especially at this point you know I’ve
I’ve had my time and it was a great time but it’s other people’s time so it’s the most magnificent thing for me to be able to be supportive of new voices that I get to learn from and when you were sort of witnessing and observing all of this
Was there a lesson or a takeaway that felt profound to you yeah um you know the opportunity that we have as filmmakers and as subjects as well is to communicate to the world that there we make a choice to be better we can make a choice to be
Better that um we can make a choice to be happy we can make a choice to be fulfilled and um to connect with others and to be to be gracious and grateful and um that’s what I feel like the the film is about and I got to do that as
Well um and a I’m wondering did it feel cathartic to make this documentary have these interviews and get to express yourself in a way that you might not have been expecting because you weren’t anticipating maybe making a documentary it’s interesting you out that cuz when I was watching I was like
Dang I said that it’s really helpful to have a trace because I’m so busy living it and Alex is always taught me the importance of archiving a moment um to to to document we were here this happened um so that in the future no one can say there weren’t people like you or
There weren’t people thinking this way and so I think it was a really exciting opportunity for me to take inventory of my own life my own career my own thoughts and have something palpable that I could return to and be like this catalog is a really important moment in
My thinking and what felt most special to me is is showing the world my friends uh Alex became part of that orbit and there’s nothing like it it’s like you can go anywhere in the world and I know the one person you need to meet when most people give tourist recommendations
It’s like the best restaurant but I’m like the best conversation and I know who you can have it with and so I really appreciated also seeing my friends Brilliance be Amplified there because that is me um and I think Alex really understood that so Central to my practice is being in conversation with
My friends and um you come from a family of academics and activist did you always feel comfortable having a platform no because the academic life is often very solitary it’s often being in the study thinking and engaging with other academics what’s different about what I
Have to do is I have to engage with the entire world um and not everyone does their homework unfortunately so it’s I think it’s something that I’ve had to learn and grow into but what’s been really amazing is having the support of my family I think the the most powerful
Privilege that I have especially as a trans person is my familial support my parents have both watched the film and both love it and that’s really meaningful to me to be able to share that with them um because that we is something I think trans people often we
Have a fraught relation ship with our families of origin so being able to include my family alongside my friends I think I don’t want to speak for Alex here but was really communicating like it’s this larger family our chosen and our born um when I was watching it it
Felt refreshing to hear from someone who had um faith in the power of compassion and love and all of these positive feelings so for for all of you what’s your message to people who might feel defeated by the state of the world right now it’s a big one that’s a big question you
See you see me turning to a Lo because I’m always learning through a Lo and I think this is a this is a difficult time it’s a time where you know we talk about and a talks about you know living beyond the binary but I think that this binary
Thinking is one of the most harmful things it is the cause of the pain and the suffering in the world and what trans people are teaching us is to take all parts of ourselves the parts that we want to Exile and bring it together with the parts that we show to
People the parts that we hide everything to bring it together and this film is unifying Al’s message is unifying and I think we need it right now at a during this time more than ever I would say friendship is the antidote to despair so take your loneliness and democratize it ask
Someone in your life do you feel the same existential Terror see them say yes and talk about it that’s how we begin to change things I think the crisis is when we keep that pain inside and what I hope our film really illustrates it’s it’s through vulnerability which is often
Dismissed as um weakness that we can actually create Pathways to connection that end up creating synergies that that’s what’s going to change the world but what my diagnosis of what’s wrong right now is people are just sequestering all that grief internally rather than actually publicizing it and
I hope that this film creates a space for people to feel and emote together what gives me hope is the work of artists who are creating space for people to be irrational for people to be idiosyncratic for people to be human and um Jody you spoke recently about um in
The early 90s you you didn’t think that a Fil A female filmmaker like Greta Gerwig would have a platform to make a movie that’s as big and successful as Barbie um so how do we make sure that there isn’t another two decades before trans directors kept platforms like this
Or something like Greta’s experience is in a one-off in Hollywood yeah I mean I’ve had the the the beauty of being being able to be in the business since the 60s the 70s the 80s the ’90s the 2000s the 2000 tens and 20s and to have seen a great progression
In the film business and and in what audiences are willing to take in um and that translates also that kind of freedom and uh the the pro progression or getting better the consciousness of our of our audiences um also translates into a kind of new thinking about who
Our marginalized voices are you know I think very in the old days is I think they saw women as a risk not really sure why they saw us as a risk that they were taking a risk on us 50% of the population um but that thinking has
Changed now I think uh with something you know with a a big success like something like Barbie um they gave Greta Gerwig who had really made two mostly independent films um they gave her the keys to the kingdom and said we’re going to give you our most important child and
We’re going to give you all the money you need to support it because we believe in you um that’s new for women and so um I hope that that you know that that continues and um and how do we make sure that that other marginalized voices as you mentioned start to get opportunities
Like that and feel like they’re not a risk right right well you know it is Progressive and it’s hard to be patient um this year we saw a lot of uh representation and um which is important but it’s not enough just to see faces um for Native American voices for example
You know we saw a lot of representation but we we didn’t see a lot of centered native stories where the person who was had the point of view or who whose experience was telling the story was from a native point of view so um indigenous voices for example I feel
Very I feel are very important for us for us as Humanity my my show True Detective I think takes us to the next level of talking about um uh Native uh issues from a native perspective um Alo I was wondering is there a a politician or somebody that
You would like to speak to and sit down and and really drill down your message of responding to situations with love and how that could impact so many things in the world that are not that are wrong and not going well I’m down to have hot
Chocolate with any of them because I I think at the heart of it as I sort of talk about in the film is people want to make these issues deep in complex but when you really distill them down to the DNA it’s because people are operating from fear from pain from grief that’s
Unprocessed and when you zoom in on that when you actually remind people that we’re all human it’s hard to hate people up close and what I’ve seen happen especially to my community is more people report uh seeing a ghost than a trans person which means I have to text
Back my friends I know but I feel like what’s happened right now is people don’t actually encounter us face to face they just read articles about us They Google us but they don’t know us so I I mean maybe I need to do a tour Across America where I just invite anyone to
Come and have a hot chocolate with me and ask the questions um because once you actually encounter us you realize that we’re dealing with the same issues and all this division is is holding us back from our shared humanity and uh the documentary starts and ends with the the
Pronoun of we what do you hope that a that resonates with audiences about that idea I think there’s a way in which so many issues get seen as us and them even within the lgbtq movement we’ve had their allies and then there are people impacted but why would we want to live
In a world where people are persecuted for being glamorous that’s not a world that’s good for anyone so actually trans rights is not just for transgender people it accelerates Freedom joy and Beauty for all people and so why Wei is important is that the point of activation for all struggles shouldn’t
Just be I’m in solidarity with a world in which Native filmmakers can tell native stories creates a better industry for all of us even if we’re not native because it reflects what life actually is and I think that’s what the goal of Cinema should be for so long it’s been
About marketing aspiration but I hope the next generation is let’s really get honest about how painful and how wonderful the world is um and on on a lighter note in the documentary you talk about not needing a reason to dress up for anything because life is the main
Event it doesn’t need to be a big Gala or anything so how has that inspired your Sund danre thank you so much for asking the important question so there’s a lot of misinformation like people don’t dress up at Sundance that are racist those of us who do and there’s a lot of
Misinformation that it’s impossible to be fashionable in the winter which I think is incorrect and what I’ve continually demonstrated every day of Sundance with my multiple outfit changes is that it is in fact possible to do that fashion at Sundance but jokes aside I feel like the Reason fashion is so
Important to me is it’s self- celebration people often see fashion as trying to dress up for other people but the way that I get dressed is when I woke up on 3 hours of sleep and these pom poms entered my field of perception
I was like I can do it I can make today happen and I want to encourage people to use fashion as a self-motivating tool um don’t get dressed up for other people get dressed stff for yourself the next time you see me I’m going to be having
I’m just going to have pom poms everywhere just to just just around my neck and around my wrists has AO inspired you to take any fashion risks or chances can’t you tell what do you mean we have gone shopping together yeah and Alex is introducing me to lesbian
Brands I didn’t know existed teaching me about silhouettes of a pleet and I like oh interesting so we’re learning we’re coming together on this yeah I’m no there was that moment in the in the thrift shop in Cape Town where you were so excited and you bought patterns for
The first time you I did there was it was very colorful AO has brought color into my life in more ways than one and I’m I’m I’m taking risks I’m going with pinks and even purple sometimes and there’s rumor has it there’s talk of eye makeup coming up a little bit I’m seeing
It I I I want to do this I want to do some color around here something you start slow then you get on the eyelid just wa next year Sundance we’re going to be swapped outfits gender is fluid this is uh on behalf of our studio that
Is sponsored by audible um so this year marks the 40th anniversary of Sundance and we’ve seen um the expansion of Storytelling through new mediums and so um what do you all see as the future of audio storytelling well I’m going to Humble brag here I just released my two poetry
Collections with Audible one is called femine public and one is called your wound my garden and I really want us to recognize poetry is Pop there’s a way in which poetry gets dismiss to Shakespeare and that’s let’s leave him behind I mean he’s important whatever but contemporary
Poetry is like music it’s something we should have playing in the background and and I feel so lucky that my aunt Orvis she was featured in the film she used to tell me back in the day gay people would go hear poets like rock stars and I want to bring that back um
So I feel like I’m so excited for audible to continue to feature poets and for people to start listening to poetry like M that’s a good answer great answer thank you so much thank You
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Video “Jodie Foster Thinks Warner Bros. Support for Greta Gerwig's 'Barbie' is ‘New for Women Directors’” was uploaded on 01/20/2024 to Youtube Channel Variety