Quote Of The Day By Greta Gerwig: ‘You Don’t Do It Until You Do It, Is The Thing…’ – SlashFilm

Originally a mumblecore queen who spent her time in front of the camera, Greta Gerwig is one of those rare Hollywood figures who successfully transitioned into writing and directing. Across three films as of this writing, she’s run the gamut from arthouse coming-of-age stories to a Mattel movie that absolutely crushed the box office.

Born in Sacramento, California — where she smartly set her debut film “Lady Bird” — Gerwig rose to prominence as an actress in movies like “Baghead” and “Nights and Weekends.” She ultimately earned fame and acclaim for her work with Noah Baumbach, the beloved indie director who would also become her romantic partner. With Baumbach, Gerwig appeared in “Greenberg,” “Frances Ha” — perhaps her defining film as a performer — and “Mistress America,” to name just a few.

As a writer and director, though, is where I think Gerwig shines the brightest. “Lady Bird,” which starred Saoirse Ronan as a headstrong high schooler desperate to leave Sacramento, is a beautifully crafted ode to Gerwig’s hometown that still feels universal. Gerwig’s adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s classic “Little Women” is, in my opinion, her best work to date and the defining take on Alcott’s quietly feminist tome. “Barbie” was the biggest movie of 2023 that wasn’t named “Oppenheimer” and broke a billion dollars at the box office in a matter of days. So with all that said, I want to look at a quote I particularly love from Gerwig about finding the will within you to accomplish seemingly impossible goals.

“I just try to keep my eye on the thing that is most challenging and most alive to me in that moment. I figure — knock on wood — I’ll have a long career, and at the end of it the assessment will be whatever it is.

“You don’t do it until you do it, is the thing. Nobody knows what you have in you until you’ve done it, so I just keep pushing those boundaries, and I figure it will all come out in the wash.”

This quote comes from a 2017 interview with Greta Gerwig surrounding the release of “Lady Bird,” spoken to Matthew Jacobs for HuffPost. Gerwig was, obviously, thinking about her future legacy ahead of her solo directorial debut. But what makes this all the more striking is that she said it years before she pushed even bigger boundaries and proved that she’s one of the most talented and audacious writer-directors working today.

It really is astonishing, all things considered, that Greta Gerwig talked about pushing boundaries before she knocked metaphorical walls down as a director. 2017’s “Lady Bird” was, of course, a massive success on just about every level. $79 million doesn’t sound like an impressive box office haul at first, but it is when you recall that the film’s budget was just $10 million, and it earned near-universal critical acclaim and a Best Picture nod at the 2018 Oscars. “Little Women” also made it into the Best Picture race, and for both films, Gerwig received nods for Best Screenplay (original for “Lady Bird” and adapted for “Little Women”) and earned success at the box office to boot.

Gerwig’s biggest swing without a doubt, though, is “Barbie.” On paper, this movie is impossible, and the idea of a live-action “Barbie” movie would have been a complete joke — or never made — without Gerwig and her intrepid star and executive producer Margot Robbie. Robbie, who brought Gerwig on board specifically because of the writer-director’s previous investigations into girlhood and womanhood, worked alongside Gerwig to create something genuinely special and emotionally resonant … out of a movie based on a toy. 

I highly doubt, to Gerwig’s point in that quote, that anyone thought the girl from “Frances Ha” would make a billion-dollar Best Picture-nominated “Barbie” movie. Nobody knows what you can do until you prove it, and she certainly did just that.

“So much of writing is like baking a cake. I can’t tell you where the sugar is.”
“It’s a real privilege to make films and I hope to make films that touch people or connect with people in some way.”
“I’m very interested in desires that don’t have categories.”
“Sitting and waiting is such an awful way to live, but it’s a big part of being an actor. Creating projects is really what’s happening these days. The chance to participate in your own career is a lot more exciting than just hoping that it all works out.”
“A great thrill that I get is figuring out how to build my wings on the way down, just kind of leaping from the tallest thing I can find.”
“Sometimes, because I write and direct, I write things that I genuinely sit back and think, ‘I have no idea how I’m actually going to accomplish that.’ And that’s actually the most exciting feeling. Because then you can gather people— gather your designers, your heads of departments—and everybody kind of figures out something that’s never been done before. And that’s thrilling.”
“I don’t remember a time when I didn’t know who Jo March was. She’s always been with me. So in some ways, it’s hard to know whether I was like Jo March, which is why I loved her, or Jo March molded me because I was trying to make myself like her.”