Margot Robbie was left feeling “self-conscious” when fans just stared at her but spoke to Ryan Gosling.
The ‘Barbie’ actors shot a rollerblading scene for the movie in Venice Beach and director Greta Gerwig found it “fascinating” to see how members of the public interacted so differently towards them when they got up close because it echoed the Australian actress’ title character in the film.
Gerwig told Rolling Stone magazine: “How Barbie operates in Barbieland is she’s entirely continuous with her environment.
“Even the houses have no walls, because you never need to hide because there’s nothing to be ashamed of or embarrassed of.
“And suddenly finding yourself in the real world and wishing you could hide, that’s the essence of being human.
“But when we were actually shooting on Venice Beach, with Margot and Ryan in neon rollerblading outfits, it was fascinating because it was actually happening in front of us.”
“People would go by Ryan, high-five him, and say, ‘Awesome, Ryan, you look great!’ And they wouldn’t actually say anything to Margot.
“They’d just look at her. It was just surreal. In that moment, she did feel self-conscious.”
While Gerwig’s first instinct was to “protect” the 33-year-old actress, she also knew it was important she felt “exposed” in the scene.
She added: “And as the director, I wanted to protect her. But I also knew that the scene we were shooting had to be the scene where she felt exposed. And she was exposed, both as a celebrity and as a lady.
“To be fair, Ryan was like, ‘I wish I wasn’t wearing this vest.’ But it was a different kind of discomfort.”
The neon outfits the pair wore for the rollerblading scene went viral last year, and Robbie admitted it was a “mortifying” moment.
She said on ‘The Tonight Show’: “I can’t tell you how mortified we were, by the way.
“We look like we’re like laughing and having fun, but we’re dying on the inside. Dying. I was like, this is the most humiliating moment of my life.”
Asked if she expected the images to go viral she added: “No! I mean, I knew that we had some exteriors to shoot in L.A.
“I knew once you were doing exteriors, you’re gonna get papped. There’s probably going to be a little crowd of people who are going to take notice because, you know, we stand out a little bit in those outfits.
“So I knew there was going to be a little bit of attention, and probably some photos would get out there, but not like it did.
Robbie concluded, “It was like mad. It was like hundreds of people watching all the time.”
