How Shabbat Dinners Sparked Greta Gerwig's Latest Film

Famed film director Greta Gerwig revealed in an interview with the 'New York Times' how her childhood Shabbat dinners with observant Jewish friends have inspired her latest project. She fondly recalls these moments as 'Shabbat rituals' that offered her a sense of belonging and security. 'I want people to feel the way I did at those Shabbat meals,' she stated, emphasizing the spiritual journey she hopes to convey in her film.

Though the film itself is not about Jewish rituals, it resonates with Jewish history. Gerwig co-wrote it with Jewish director and screenwriter Noah Baumbach and draws inspiration from the life of Ruth Handler, a businesswoman of Jewish-Polish descent. Handler, who named the famous dolls Barbie and Ken after her children, instilled a deep respect for Judaism in Gerwig due to her own family's faithfully observant Jewish background.

Throughout the interview, Gerwig reflects on dining with her Jewish friends on Friday nights. 'No matter your victories or losses of the past week, your achievements or shortcomings, when you sit down at the Friday night table, you are valued just like everyone else,' she quoted the Jewish father of her friend. 'I want people to feel blessed, just as I did at Shabbat dinner. I envisioned the film like a spiritual voyage.'