Simu Liu’s Agent Was Willing to Risk His Career Recommending Him ‘Barbie’
A movie based on the Barbie brand understandably earned a lot of eyebrow raises from audiences around the world. However, Greta Gerwig’s involvement changed everything and created intrigue to see how she would pull it off. Actor Simu Liu recently talked about Barbie, what the world can expect, how he initially heard about the project, and what it was like to work with Gerwig.
‘Barbie’ star Simu Liu teases what audiences can expect from the movie
GQ interviewed Liu to talk about his projects past, present, and future, including the upcoming Barbie. The actor explained that he has dance rehearsals, but made clear that the movie isn’t a musical. Liu further went ahead and called Barbie “wild” and “incredibly unique.”
It’s clear that Gerwig is keeping Liu and the rest of the Barbie cast incredibly busy, including Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. “I wish I could just show you what we do day-to-day because it’s crazy,” Liu said.
Simu Liu’s agent was willing to stake everything on recommending him ‘Barbie’
Liu didn’t want to expand too much on how he earned his role in Barbie. However, he did talk about how he crossed paths with the project. Liu told GQ that he had a group call with his entire team to discuss some potential big-budget studio movies that he could join. However, none of them caught his attention until a junior agent interjected.
Liu’s agent called Barbie one of the very best scripts he’s ever read. He believed in this project so deeply that he was ready to put his career on the line. Furthermore, he pushed Liu to jump on the Barbie train immediately.
“He literally said this verbatim,” Liu recalled. “He was like, ‘If I could stake my career on any one script, it’s the Barbie script. I really think you should do it.’”
Liu did a self-taped audition for Barbie before he met with Gerwig to discuss the role. It turns out that his dancing experience really caught her attention.
“Greta was talking about how much she loved watching men dance, because it’s such an expression of artistry you’re not used to seeing from typical men,” Liu said. The actor made sure to recall his involvement in a competitive hip-hop dance team back at college, which earned a big reaction.
“She audibly guffawed, she giggle-screamed – and then I got the part,” Liu stated.
The actor explained what it was like to work with Greta Gerwig
Liu told GQ that he knew when he was doing a good job in Barbie when he could make Gerwig laugh. However, he added that self-entitled actors won’t make it very far working with Gerwig.
“When you’re doing a scene and it’s working, you hear, ‘HAHAHAHA!’ from the video village,” Liu said, imitating Gerwig’s laugh, “it’s the best feeling in the world. If you’re an a**hole on a Greta Gerwig set, there’s no hope for you.”
