‘There’s a Lot of Greta in Gloria’

Prior to “Barbie,” a critique of Greta Gerwig’s filmmaking was that the protagonists she used as proxies for her artistic sensibilities fit a very specific, Saoirse Ronan-shaped package. However, what has become the most bit of dialogue the two-time screenplay Oscar nominee has written, a monologue so powerful that it can deprogram victims of the patriarchy worldwide, is performed by star that history would suggest would never had gotten the opportunity to even be in a “Barbie” without Gerwig explicitly making the character Latina, and courting her for the role.

“On a personal level, I’ve never had a director, an Academy Award-nominated director, call me and say, ‘I’ve written a role for you,’” said America Ferrera, who plays Gloria in the Warner Bros. Pictures blockbuster, to IndieWire over tea inside a hotel restaurant in Beverly Hills. “[Gerwig] wrote the role Latina, but there was really nothing about it that is stereotypically Latina. She’s not undocumented. She doesn’t have to speak Spanish. She’s not a maid or a housekeeper. She’s just invited to the party in a meaningful way — and in a way that we don’t often get to show up to the party.”

Though “Barbie” more than delivers on its titular character, with Margot Robbie in the lead as the stereotypical version of the beloved doll, Ferrera has emerged as a dark horse Best Supporting Actress contender for playing a Mattel employee with a existential connection…