Noah Baumbach may have written Barbie with the film’s director (and his life partner) Greta Gerwig, but he apparently wasn’t in attendance Sunday at the premiere in Los Angeles.
While Greta posed alongside stars of the film, Noah was notably absent.
Turns out, he had reason to miss the major event. Noah is a director and writer behind such films as White Noise, Marriage Story, and The Meyerowitz Stories. He’s even been nominated twice for Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars: in 2006 for The Squid and the Whale and in 2020 for Marriage Story.
According to Deadline, Greta acknowledged his absence at the premiere ahead of the film’s screening.
“My cowriter and co-creator, my partner in love and art, Noah Baumbach is not here. He is passionately supporting the fight of the Writers Guild of America,” Greta said, per Deadline. “From the first line to the last cut, this movie is his as much as anyone’s. He is a Barbie girl. Nothing in Barbie happened without him, and nothing in Hollywood happens without writers.”
Noah is not the first celebrity to skip a public event in support of the WGA strike. In May, Drew Barrymore dropped out of hosting the MTV Movie & TV Awards to stand in solidarity.
Other stars have taken alternate approaches to standing with the strike, such as picketing like Rob Lowe.
Ariana DeBose acknowledged the strike while hosting the Tony Awards last month, which aired without a script, since WGA writers typically script the show. “For every single person that had a hand in finding that compromise, I say a full-throated thank you!” she said of the WGA and Tonys allowing the awards show to continue amid the strike.