‘Barbie’ director says what a Berkeley Barbie would look like

Barbie has had many faces over the years — from Malibu Barbie to Surgeon Barbie — but there’s never been a Bay Area-specific version of the iconic doll. However, on the red carpet of the SFFILM Award Night, “Barbie” director Greta Gerwig shared what one might look like.

Gerwig was in San Francisco to accept the Irving M. Levin Award for Film Direction, presented by “Barbie” star Ryan Gosling. Both would go on to pledge $20,000 to SFFILM later in the evening, but beforehand, they appeared on the red carpet for a few quick interviews and photos (in true Ken fashion, the top few buttons of Gosling’s shirt seemed to have malfunctioned).

Gerwig had plenty of praise for her hometown of Sacramento during a lightning round of red carpet questions (and clarified that it is not part of the Bay Area). She already chronicled life in Sacramento in her 2017 solo directorial debut “Lady Bird,” and told reporters that she had two more stories about the city she was considering turning into films (although she remained tight-lipped on further details). 

When asked by SFGATE what a San Francisco-themed Barbie might look like, Gerwig hesitated to answer about SF specifically, but had some thoughts on the stereotype of a Cal college student in the 1990s.

“For me, it’s hard to think of just a San Francisco Barbie because my experience of San Francisco had so much to do with [the fact that] my sister went to Berkeley, so I have this image of Berkeley in the ’90s,” Gerwig told SFGATE. “So, a little crunchy — she’s playing go, she has a little go set. She’s got a lot of really dense theory books and she made her own clothes.”

And what about a Berkeley Ken?

“Ken is the same. All the same,” Gerwig said.