Interview (Written): Olivia Milch

Co-writer of Ocean’s 8 and the upcoming movie Barbie.

A Refinery 29 interview with screenwriter Olivia Milch whose credits include Dude and Ocean’s 8, along with the upcoming movie Barbie.

Refinery29: Dude, Ocean’s 8, and the upcoming Barbie movie all explore facets of the female experience. Was that your goal going into screenwriting? Telling women’s stories?

“Yes! I get the greatest joy out of, and feel most passionate about, telling stories about women, and seeing the range and diversity of all of the complex, nuanced, complicated, wonderful women that I know, and that I see in the world. [I want] to see more of them represented on screen and more of their stories being told, and hear more of their voices telling their own stories. I would be very happy if I got to continue working on movies about women forever.”

Did you feel like as a woman working on this major movie (Oceans 8) with all-female cast, there was more pressure to succeed, and get it right?

“When you’re working on a film, and you’re writing, you can’t think about reception. You’re just trying to serve the story, and do justice to the characters, and have it be real and authentic and dynamic. And sometimes I’d look over and say: ‘Oh my god, there’s eight women onscreen right now, this is amazing!’ But it’s a shame that, because the percentage of films that are either made by women or with female protagonists is so low, there does tend to be this pressure to perform very well, or if you screw up, then you’re never going to get the chance again. That’s starting to shift a little bit, but it’s one of the reasons we really have to support marginalized voices, or people who don’t have the opportunity. If you go out, buy tickets, watch their movies on Netflix, and really support those people who are making films and television and art like that, then hopefully you’ll get to see more of it.”

I read that one of the reasons you were drawn to Ocean’s 8 was because you felt there weren’t enough accurate representations of female friendships. What’s missing, and how did you try to fix that in the movie?

“The way that women speak to each other. And it shifts, depending on whether you’ve grown up with somebody, or if this is a new friend, but there is a language that’s very specific in how we communicate, and there’s thought and emotion involved. And, the sense of humor that women have with each other, the shared experience, and how we use comedy and humor in the world –that is really just a fact of female existence, and we don’t often get to see that. Women are funny on purpose — not funny because they’re dumb or inebriated ! They’re funny because they intend to be funny. And there’s also a love and a care between women and in female friendships that’s really potent and powerful, and you don’t get to see represented in a lot of work. But that’s starting to change as there’s women, but also allies: somebody like Gary [Ross], who I think has had a very feminist perspective throughout his entire body of work, people who really care to get it right, and want it to feel real.”

A trailer for the movie Ocean’s 8:

For the rest of the interview, go here.

For hundreds of interviews hosted on Go Into The Story, go here.