'Barbie' director Gerwig honored by 'terrifying' movie industry

Barbie director Greta Gerwig paid tribute to risk-takers in the "terrifying" entertainment industry as she was honored for her pioneering filmmaking at a prestigious Hollywood gala on Wednesday.

Gerwig, 41, is the first-ever female director to make a $1 billion movie, and all three of her solo directorial movies to date -- Lady Bird, Little Women, and Barbie -- have been nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars.

"A showperson is the only person I've ever wanted to be," she said, as she was named Pioneer of the Year at the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation gala in Beverly Hills.

"I wanted to be one of those people who are a little bit wild, a little bit on the edge, and filled with a kind of joyful madness.

BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 25: (L-R) Honoree Greta Gerwig and Lisa Bunnell, President, Distribution, Focus Features and President, Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation speak onstage during the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation's Pioneer Dinner Honoring Greta Gerwig at The Beverly Hilton on September 25, 2024 in Beverly Hills, California.(Photo by Amy Sussman / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

"I think pioneer is the right word."

Gerwig's most recent artistic gamble paid off as her $1.4 billion-grossing feminist satire Barbie became the top-grossing movie of 2023.

Improbably based on the popular doll franchise, but given unusual creative license, the film's success came at a crucial time for an increasingly risk-averse industry reeling from the pandemic, strikes, and swingeing job cuts.

The film, alongside Christopher Nolan's Oscar-sweeping Oppenheimer, was widely credited with keeping the movie theatre industry afloat last year.

Gerwig is reportedly set to write and direct two Netflix film adaptations of C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia.

"There are easier ways to make money, and there are less terrifying businesses, but there are none that are more exciting and filled with as much joy and wonder," she said.

Wednesday's Pioneer of the Year gala raises funds to support movie industry workers suffering injury or illness.