Greta Gerwig’s Favorite Movies: 30 Films the Director Wants You to See

“The Wizard of Oz” (1939)

In advance of the “Barbie” movie release, Gerwig released an official 33 film watchlist of the movies that inspired her when creating the highly anticipated film. One of the main movies to receive shout-outs in “Barbie” is the classic kids fantasy film “The Wizard of Oz.” The film is seen on a marquee in the movie’s Barbie Land early on, and the iconic Yellow Brick Road is replaced by a “Pink Brick Road.” 

“It does something that I wanted to emulate, which is these incredible sound stages and these painted skies and this sense of… I say, ‘authentically artificial,’ which I think is very beautiful and emotional,” Gerwig told Letterboxd. 

“The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” (1964)

One of the most beloved musicals of all time, “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” is Jacques Demy’s operatic and colorful tale of first love and heartbreak. In her Letterboxd interview, Gerwig called the movie “astonishingly beautiful” and explained that she and “Barbie” DP Rodrigo Prieto took inspiration from the painterly look of the musical for their film’s aesthetic. She also said that Barbie’s hair during one scene in the film is directly inspired by the hairstyle female lead Catherine Deneuve sports in “Umbrellas of Cherbourg.”  

“The Young Girls of Rochefort” (1967)

Another Jacques Demy musical, “The Young Girls of Rochefort” stars Catherine Deneuve and Francoise Dorleac as the titular young girls and follows the pair as they pursue love and romance. In her Letterboxd interview, Gerwig revealed that one of the hats in “Barbie” was inspired by looks worn in the 1967 film. 

“Model Shop” (1969)

The third Demy film on Gerwig’s “Barbie” list, “Model Shop” was the director’s first English-language film, and stars Gary Lockwood as a man who falls in love with a French woman (Anouk Aimée) working as a rent-out pin-up model in Los Angeles. Speaking about Demy, Gerwig said his films appeal to her because: “He does these amazing constructed worlds that operate on their own rules… Also, they’re just delicious. His movies are delicious.” 

“The Red Shoes” (1948)

An iconic dance film, Emeric Pressburger and Michael Powell’s “The Red Shoes” stars Moira Shearer as a ballerina caught between furthering her career and the pursuit of romance. Gerwig put the film on her list of “Barbie” inspirations, saying that Pressburger and Powell’s films “exist in a category of their own: they’re inventive and theatrical and also cinematic.” 

“A Matter of Life and Death” (1946)

Another Pressburger and Powell film, “A Matter of Life and Death” stars David Niven as a British aviator who cheats death and must argue for his right to live before a celestial court. Gerwig praised the movie’s production design in her Letterboxd interview, saying that: “The builds are extraordinary. Heaven—where they have those circles with everybody looking down—is so stunning, and then it has that vanishing perspective of it and it goes into a matte painting, which is so gorgeous. Things freeze in the movie in the middle of a ping pong game, and they put the ping pong ball on a string so that it’s just people holding still, which is such a wonderful conceit; the inventiveness is so great.” 

“Oklahoma!” (1955)

In 1955, iconic stage musical “Oklahoma!” was adapted into a big screen film by Fred Zinnemann. Gerwig named the film — and specifically the dream ballet sequence choreographed by Agnes de Mille — as an inspiration for “Barbie” to Letterboxd. 

“Gold Diggers of 1935” (1935)

A classic Busby Berkeley muscial, “Gold Diggers of 1935” follows the interlinked stories of several guests at a lakeside resort. Gerwig told Letterboxd she was inspired by the film’s famous “Lullaby of Broadway” musical number while making “Barbie.”  

“Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” (1988)

The film that brought Pedro Almodóvar international attention, “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” is a comedy of manners starring Carmen Maura as a TV actress who hosts a strange cast of characters in her apartment building after her boyfriend leaves her. Gerwig named the film as an inspiration for “Barbie” to Letterboxd, citing the way that Almodóvar layers colors. 

“2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968)

Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” is one of the most iconic sci-fi films of all time. The movie’s famous opening sequence, where man-apes encounter an alien monolith, is directly parodied in “Barbie,” and Gerwig named the film as an influence to Letterboxd. 

“His Girl Friday” (1940)

Howard Hawks’ “His Girl Friday” turns the 1928 newpaper comedy play “The Front Page” into a screwball romance, by turning one character Hildy (Rosalind Russell) into a woman and adding a romantic arc between her and editor Walter (Cary Grant). The result is one of the most acclaimed films of its era, and Gerwig named it as an influence to Letterboxd “because of how fast they talk.” 

“The Philadelphia Story” (1940)

Another Cary Grant film, George Cukor’s “The Philadelphia Story” stars the actor as the ex-husband of socialite Tracy (Katherine Hepburn), as he schemes to win her back before her wedding. In her Letterboxd interview, Gerwig called Grant “the best,” and said she told Margot Robbie to watch the film because Hepburn’s character partly inspired Barbie’s character arc in their film.  

“An American in Paris” (1951)

Gerwig has an affinity for Gene Kelly, referring to the musical icon as her crush growing up in her Letterboxd interview. Speaking about how “An American in Paris,” Kelly’s iconic dance musical about love in France’s capital, Gerwig explained that the opening scene, which sees the main character go through his morning routine in his apartment, inspired how the “Barbie” movie opens.  

“The Truman Show” (1998)

Peter Weir’s classic dramedy “The Truman Show” stars Jim Carrey as an ordinary man living in a fake world, built for him as the set of a TV show that chronicles his life. In her Letterboxd interview, Gerwig revealed she watched the film before she made “Barbie,” and got on the phone with Weir to discuss how he shot the production. 

“He talked to me for a long time about how he shot it and how they made it work,” Gerwig said. “They shot it actually outside, but they hung lights, so it would feel like it was in a studio. He told me, ‘I don’t suggest that. It was very hot.’” 

“All That Jazz” (1979)

Bob Fosse’s 1979 film is a nakedly semi-autobiographical story about a theater director (Roy Scheider) staging a new musical and racing to finish post-production on his Lenny Bruce biopic while his personal life crumbles thanks to his own vices. Gerwig referred to the film as a “masterpiece” in her Letterboxd interview, calling it “extraordinary.” 

“Heaven Can Wait” (1978)

Warren Beatty plays an angel in “Heaven Can Wait,” the film he co-directed with Buck Henry about a quarterback who gets taken to heaven before he was actually supposed to die. In her Letterboxd interview, Gerwig said that the film is “extremely high concept, but it’s always human. There’s nothing about it that makes you feel distanced from it. It totally works, even though in some ways it seems sort of wacky, but when you’re watching, it’s so beautiful.”

“Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (1977)

One of Steven Spielberg’s most acclaimed movies, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” focuses on an electrician (Richard Dreyfuss) who has a run-in with a UFO and abandons his ordinary life to search for answers. Gerwig called the movie one of her favorites in her Letterboxd interview, saying that it “was about this maniacal belief in something that seemed sort of crazy, but was actually true, that I thought captured something about ‘Barbie’ to me.” 

“The Earrings of Madame De…” (1953)

Considered a masterpiece of French cinema, Max Ophüls’ “The Earrings of Madame De…” stars Danielle Dariux as the titular Madame, who sells a pair of earrings to pay off financial debts and causes surprising romantic complications in the process. In her Letterboxd interview, Gerwig said Ophüls’ film “has the most beautiful camera work—I mean, I can’t believe some of those shots. They’re just extraordinary; it’s always a reminder of what we’re all going for.” 
 

“Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai Du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles” (1975)

In 2017, while promoting her starring role in Mike Mills’ “20th Century Women,” Gerwig spoke to IndieWire and Movies on Demand about her picks for her all-time favorite movies. The first feature she choose was Chantal Akerman’s three-hour long slice of life about a housewife’s daily routine, and one of the defining films in feminist cinema. Gerwig proved to be ahead of her time in choosing “Jeanne Dielman” first; in 2022, it was named the greatest film of all time by Sight & Sound Magazine’s once-a-decade critics poll. 

“Singin’ in the Rain” (1952)

Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly’s beloved musical comedy “Singin’ in the Rain” is the type of film that continues to inspire dozens of directors decades after it was released; look to “Babylon” director Damien Chazelle, for example. Gerwig’s also a fan of the legendary musical, naming it as another favorite during her IndieWire and Movies on Demand interview; we’re guessing she studied up on the film for those “Barbie” musical numbers. 

“Rio Bravo” (1959)

One of Gerwig’s cinematic loves that isn’t necessarily immediately apparent from watching her work is the westerns of John Wayne, particularly those he made with Howard Hawks. The pair’s 1959 classic “Rio Bravo” was another pick from her during her IndieWire and Movies on Demand interview, calling it a movie “she wants to live inside” and saying that “we don’t make those movies now.” 

“Red River” (1948)

Another Howard Hawks and John Wayne collaboration Gerwig mentioned during her IndieWire and Movies on Demand interview, “Red River” stars Wayne as a rancher managing a cattle drive from Texas to Kansas, and the feud he develops with his adopted son (Montgomery Clift).

In a 2012 interview with The Dissolve, Gerwig called Wayne one of her “fascinations” in cinema, and singled his performance in “Red River” out as a favorite: “I find him almost psychically different from movie to movie. He can be really scary in movies like Red River, or he can be very gentle. I like how much time he takes for everything; he really takes his goddamn time to walk, or to talk.”

“The 39 Steps” (1935)

Another IndieWire and Movies on Demand shoutout, Alfred Hitchcock’s iconic British thriller received particularly high praise from Gerwig, who called it “maybe one of the most perfect movies ever made.” The Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll spy film, about an innocent man hoping to clear his name of muder, is great according to Gerwig, “not because of the scope of the movie…it’s just these little details that are like, oh no!” 

“Brief Encounter” (1945)

A classic cinematic heartbreaker, David Lean’s “Brief Encounter” tells the story of two married people (Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard) who fall in love but are too loyal to their spouses to embark upon a full affair. In her IndieWire and Movies on Demand interview, Gerwig referred to the British feature as the “most romantic movie ever made.” 

“The King Of Comedy” (1982)

Todd Phillips isn’t the only director in Hollywood whose favorite Martin Scorcese flick is “The King of Comedy.” 1982’s “The King of Comedy,” which stars Robert De Niro as a deranged comedian and was a famously big influence on 2019’s “Joker,” was the final film mentioned by Gerwig as a favorite during her IndieWire and Movies on Demand interview. 

“Another Year” (2010)

Mike Leigh’s “Another Year,” also a favorite of Ari Aster’s, tells the story of a middle-aged couple across a year in their life. In a 2013 interview to promote “Frances Ha,” Gerwig said she loved the film, and named it as an influence while she and Baumbach were writing the script for their movie. 

“I love that movie; it’s great, it’s the best. The way it’s divided up into seasons – that’s what kind of gave us the inspiration to demarcate the movie into parts from where she lived,” Gerwig said. “I really like in the movie the way there was elapsed time. You’d kind of be figuring out what happened in between these two sections. I just thought it was an amazing movie and I really loved it.”

“Flirting” (1991)

An Australian film about the romance between two outcast teenagers at boarding school, John Duigan’s “Flirting” is best known today for featuring early film roles for Thandiwe Newton and Nicole Kidman. In a 2017 Slate interview, Gerwig named the Aussie flick as a movie that made an impact on her and helped inspire “Lady Bird.” 

“It’s very tender and it’s very good,” Gerwig said. “I remember that was a movie where I was like, ‘Oh, you could do it but it could be real?’ Even though I’ve never been to an Australian boarding school, I have no idea whether that’s real or not.” 

“Pretty in Pink” (1986)

Another teen film that helped inform “Lady Bird” was the John Hughes-scripted “Pretty in Pink,” which stars Molly Ringwald as an outcast teenager looking for love as her high school prom approaches.

In her Slate interview, Gerwig said that the pink dress from Howard Deutch’s feature helped inform the costume design for the “Lady Bird” prom scene. “I loved John Hughes movies,” Gerwig said. “But definitely, of those movies, I would say ‘Pretty in Pink’ is my favorite.”

“Don’t Look Now” (1973)

When asked about her favorite sex scene in a film for W Magazine in February 2016, Gerwig took the opportunity to praise a moment between Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie’s grieving parent characters in Nicolas Roeg’s “Don’t Look Now.” 

“Because the scene is so extended and so glorious, you feel like you’re watching something that you shouldn’t — so that’s very exciting,” she said, before further praising a scene from “Brief Encounter.”

“Working Girl” (1988)

Again for W Magazine’s Screen Tests series, this time in 2017, Gerwig was asked about her cinematic crush. 

“Right now I have to say Melanie Griffith in ‘Working Girl,” the writer-director said. “I mean, the first time she meets Harrison Ford at the bar when she’s all done up. And she’s got a head for business and a bod for sin. But there’s a moment when she cuts her hair off and she says, ;I want to be a serious businesswoman. You need to have serious hair.’ She’s so great and so sexy without being plastic, which I think a lot of people miss now. She seems like a real sexy person.”