Barbie director Greta Gerwig calls film's success 'so moving'

Greta Gerwig, the director of smash hit movie Barbie, has described the film's success as "so moving".

The blockbuster follows the famous doll and her companion Ken travelling from Barbieland into the real world.

Gerwig, speaking at the London Film Festival, added that seeing the movie being enjoyed by so many had been "the most thrilling thing".

The film has taken $1.44bn (£1.2bn) at the box office, making her the most successful solo female director ever.

The director was in conversation at the festival with Peep Show co-creator and Succession writer Jesse Armstrong.

Speaking about the months she spent working on Barbie, she told him: "The process of making it was such joy. It was the most joyful set I've ever been on.

"I thought, if I can make a movie that's half, or [a] quarter as fun to watch as it was to make, I think maybe we've got a shot."

The film was shot in the UK at Leavesden Studios in Hertfordshire.

It was released in July, and Gerwig went into cinemas to see the reaction and ensure audiences had the best viewing - and listening - experience, she revealed.

"On the opening weekend I was in New York City. And I went around some different theatres and sort of stood in the back. And then also turned up the volume if I felt it was playing at maybe not the perfect level," she said. "It was the most thrilling thing."

She told film fans at the London festival that she'd grown up loving watching films in movie theatres.

"And I think that part of me always wanted to recreate that feeling from childhood of meeting in a dark room with a bunch of people. So it was so moving to me that that was the thing that people experienced."

She also thanked the BBC for allowing her to use a short extract from its 1995 TV adaptation of Pride & Prejudice in her film.

"I was very honoured they said yes to that," she said. "That was a big deal. They don't always say yes. Thank you to Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth, that was very lovely."

And although she was careful not to name it, Gerwig also spoke briefly about her next, eagerly awaited project, and the challenges it's presenting.

"I'm working on something right now, I'm in the writing process," she told the audience. "And it's hard. And I'm having nightmares. I'm having recurring nightmares."