Greta Gerwig's Barbie film looks to be one of the summer's most fun films. On top of being based on the popular toy, the Lady Bird director named over three dozen films that inspired her Margot Robbie-led film.

Speaking to Letterboxd, Gerwig dished on the films that she lists on her Barbie “watchlist.” Beginning with The Wizard of Oz, Gerwig called it an “extraordinary movie and beautiful and beloved” and says it “does something that I wanted to emulate, which is these incredible sound stages and these painted skies and this sense of… I say, ‘authentically artificial,' which I think is very beautiful and emotional.” She also mentioned the painted backdrop of Emerald City which Barbie emulates with its Pink Brick Road.

The film is littered with subtle references too. Later in the interview, Gerwig revealed that Robbie's Barbie hair in one scene was an homage to Catherine Deneuve's hair in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Singin' in the Rain is the director's favorite film, so the ballet number that Ken (Ryan Gosling) does is an homage to that film. Other ballet influences included The Red Shoes and Oklahoma! per Gerwig.

Similarly to The Truman Show, Barbie does take place in an enclosed space — Barbie Land. Peter Weir, who directed The Truman Show, even spoke to Gerwig prior to the Barbie production kicking off. “I had to include The Truman Show both because I watched it again before I made this movie, and because Peter Weir very generously got on the phone with me before I started shooting, and he talked to me for a long time about how he shot it and how they made it work. They shot it outside, but they hung lights, so it would feel like it was in a studio. He told me, ‘I don't suggest that. It was very hot,'” Gerwig revealed.

Barbie follows the titular doll (played by Margot Robbie) and Ken on a journey of self-discovery. It's Greta Gerwig's fourth directorial feature and her first since 2019's Little Women. Amanda Ferrera, Rhea Pearlman, and Will Ferrell also star in the film. Dua Lipa, Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, and Emma Mackey are just a few of the names playing variations of Barbie. As for Ken, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Simu Liu, and John Cena, all play different variations of the doll. Helen Mirren narrates the film and Michael Cera plays a doll named Allan.

Check out the full list of films that inspired Barbie below.

  • The Wizard of Oz
  • The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
  • The Young Girls of Rochefort
  • An American in Paris
  • Singin' in the Rain
  • Model Shop
  • The Red Shoes
  • A Matter of Life and Death
  • All That Jazz
  • Heaven Can Wait
  • Heaven Can Wait
  • Oklahoma!
  • Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
  • 2001: A Space Odyssey
  • His Girl Friday
  • The Philadelphia Story
  • Golddiggers of 1935
  • Twentieth Century
  • The Ladies Man
  • Rear Window
  • And the Ship Sails On
  • Wings of Desire
  • The Earrings of Madame de…
  • Close Encounters of the Third Kind
  • Modern Times
  • Pee-wee's Big Adventure
  • Grease
  • The Truman Show
  • Mon Oncle
  • Playtime
  • Splash
  • Saturday Night Fever
  • The Godfather

Barbie will be released on July 21.