Clubhouse Conversations — Barbie

In this episode, cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC is joined by interviewer Steven Fierberg, ASC to discuss his work on Barbie — the candy-coated comedic fantasy from director Greta Gerwig about the existential crisis faced by Barbie and Ken when the pair leave Barbie Land and confront the real world.

Barbie follows Barbie (Margot Robbie) on her journey to the real world, in hopes of curing her sudden onset of physical and mental changes. Her co-dependent companion, Ken (Ryan Gosling), tags along, and is soon enticed by the patriarchal power structures that govern society outside of Barbie Land.

In this interview, Prieto discusses how he developed the idyllic Technicolor world of Barbie Land, and its point of contrast, the spontaneous, messy "real world"; shooting with the Alexa 65; his method for backlighting subjects using multiple “soft-sun” sources; capturing the film's homage to 2001: A Space Odyssey on an LED volume; his inspiration for the film's “heaven” sequence, and more.

Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC is a cinematographer whose credits include Amores perros (2000), 8 Mile (2002), 21 Grams (2003), Brokeback Mountain (2005), Babel (2006), Argo (2012), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), The Irishman (2019) and Killers of the Flower Moon (2023).

Steven Fierberg, ASC is an award-winning cinematographer whose credits include the TV series Emily in Paris, Entourage, mini-series Attila and feature Secretary (2002). In 2002, he won the ASC Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography for his work on Atilla.

You’ll find all episodes in our ASC Clubhouse Conversations discussion series here.