Greta Gerwig Revealed Who All The People Were In *THAT* Final Barbie Moment

The movie may be called Barbie, but it’s about a lot more than just one iconic doll. That point is made very clear in one of the film’s final moments, when a moving montage plays before Barbie makes a very important decision. The emotion of the scene is palpable, even if viewers don’t recognize the people being shown. Now, director Greta Gerwig has revealed who the people featured in Barbie’s ending montage are, and how they are all personally connected to the movie in meaningful ways.

Spoiler alert: This post discusses the ending of Barbie, so don’t read on until you’ve seen it. In the final moments of Barbie, Barbie makes the life-changing decision to leave her life in plastic behind to become a human woman, thanks to some insight from Barbie creator Ruth Handler. As she transformation takes place, Barbie is overcome with visions of several different women in what appear to be home videos. And it turns out, they actually are real home videos, which were submitted to Gerwig by the actors, crew members, and other collaborators who worked on Barbie.

Gerwig revealed what went into crafting that montage during a July 18 interview with host Andrew Freund. “I had this idea where I wanted that moment in the film to be truly made by the people who made the movie,” Gerwig said. “So I sort of said to everyone — cast, crew, everyone from editorial, anyone — ‘If you have things you’re comfortable with sharing, this is an idea.’ And we got the most beautiful moments from people’s lives. It was people’s friends, aunts, mothers, daughters, sisters. It was just extraordinary.”

The director continued by emphasizing how important it was to make sure the movie ended with a deeply personal element. “With something like Barbie that is such a behemoth of an international brand, an icon, and it can be something that feels so kind of impersonal, that it was a way to be like, ‘This was only ever made by human beings,’” Gerwig said. “The movies, dolls, human beings make them. They’re not handed down from on high; they’re just made. And there was something about Ruth Handler, inventor of Barbie, the idea that she made the doll Barbie for Barbara, her daughter, and that human connection. Every film I make has to come from a personal place.”

She concluded by sharing that she felt the montage was her own creative way to give everyone who worked on the movie their own “A Film By” credit. “I’ve honestly always wanted to credit a movie — you know, you say ‘Written By,’ ‘Directed By,’ and then there’s a credit where you can say ‘A Film By,’ which is a director’s credit, but I’ve always actually wanted to do ‘A Film By’ and then have a card with every single person who worked on the film. Because what I love about movies is it’s a collective artform,” Gerwig said. “But I was told I’m not allowed to. But in a way, I felt like these personal home videos, the people who know know ... In the midst of this it’s like, these are just people making this, and here are some people and their families who made it, and people they love.”