“You’ve delivered joy to countless generations and genders of people, and you should surf that wave,” the actress tells Billie Eilish and Finneas upon winning an award for their ‘Barbie’ track
Barbie‘s marketing tagline was “She’s everything,” and Meryl Streep — an actress who has long been everything to Hollywood — agrees. On Thursday, at the Palm Springs Film Awards, Streep offered the highest words of praise for Greta Gerwig’s film and the cultural impact it made before presenting the International Star Award to Carey Mulligan, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Before Streep took the stage, Billie Eilish and Finneas had just won a trophy for the Barbie soundtrack song “What Was I Made For?” prompting the actress to reflect on the film. “I just want to say to Billie and Finneas that you have delivered the Barbie love bomb,” she said. “You’ve saved the movies last summer and all of our jobs. You’ve delivered joy to countless generations and genders of people, and you should surf that wave, kids, until you’re old and deserve to be jaded like me.”
Barbie opened widely in theaters on July 19, less than a week after SAG-AFTRA began its strike and two months after the Writers Guild of America began its own. The strikes, which both ended in the fall, put a chill on Hollywood’s productivity — the unions even prohibited actors from promoting their films — as each of the respective parties fought for fair deals.
Barbie, with its gentle humor and social messages, became a box-office smash, taking in more than $636 million in the U.S., according to Box Office Mojo. The film has become both Warner Bros.’ highest-grossing film ever and the highest-grossing film ever by a solo female director, according to THR.
“The process of making it was such joy,” Gerwig said in October, according to the BBC. “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.”
