After months of filming, the cast and crew of both Barbie and Oppenheimer celebrated each other with thoughtful — and funny — gifts.
America Ferrera explained in a Friday, July 21, episode of BBC’s “Screen Time” podcast that her favorite memento from Barbie was inspired by director Greta Gerwig’s personal style. “Greta’s uniform on set every day was a jumpsuit, usually a blue jumpsuit,” Ferrera, 39, shared. “On Wednesdays, everyone wore pink, so she’d wear a pink jumpsuit — but she’d always wear Nike Air Force 1s. That was her uniform. So, as a wrap gift, we all got Air Force 1s that had ‘Barbie’ embroidered on them.”
Gerwig, 39, who appeared in the episode alongside Ferrera as well as Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, shared that the best present came from Gosling, 42. “Because we shot most of the project here in Leavesden, England, Ryan had made these shirts that said ‘Kenergy Tour Live from Leavesden,’” Gerwig said on the podcast. “When he was making the tees, he had Barbie on it too, but he had to go through a process with Mattel. They said, ‘You can’t use Barbie, but you can do whatever with Ken,’ and it’s literally what the movie is about.”
Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan, meanwhile, revealed during a Friday visit on The View that his gift — which came from Emily Blunt — was a nod to something that drove him “crazy” on set.
“She gave me a pair of Uggs – Ugg slippers, actually — as a wrap gift,” Nolan, 52, said. “For people who have been on a set, people know how it works — we’re there, losing the light. [We’ll say], ‘OK, we need the actors to come in,’ and sometimes they’ll come straight from wardrobe, but they’ll have these big coats on top and they’ll be wearing these big Ugg boots because the shoes of the character are uncomfortable. You know 1940s shoes.”
Nolan added, “[Emily] used to drive me crazy [during shooting]. I’d immediately say to her, ‘Can you please just get rid of the boots, put the shoes on, and get ready to go?’ And she got so sick of me saying that time after time, she thought I should join the cult of Ugg boots.”
The best gift of all, however, seems to have come from fans who rushed to see both films — which debuted in theaters on Friday — during opening weekend.
Barbie raked in an estimated $155 million at the domestic box office. Oppenheimer, which also stars Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh and Matt Damon, brought in an estimated $80 million. AMC reported last week that more than 20,000 moviegoers pre-ordered same-day tickets to see both Barbie and Oppenheimer — a phenomenon nicknamed Barbenheimer.
