Barbie Ferreira: What Does She Want Now? Building a Personal Path in Independent Cinema

According to CinemaDrame News Agency, Barbie Ferreira—who is now back on screen this month with two new films—has shown that her range in serious and varied roles is stronger than ever. In an interview with IndieWire, she talks about how her interest in dark, crime-driven stories, her experience of growing up on the internet, and her personal, independent outlook on herself have shaped a new chapter in her professional life.

Barbie Ferreira is afraid of her laptop.

In a recent interview with IndieWire, while searching for her laptop and eventually joining the Zoom call via her phone, she said: “I hate laptops. I think there are hackers inside them watching me. Here we are! I’m afraid of my laptop.”

This line may sound like a joke, but it connects to one of her new roles in the film Faces of Death—a smart continuation of an older horror film that deals with the lingering terror from the original 1978 version. In this film, Ferreira plays Margo, a content moderator on a social media platform who constantly encounters extremely disturbing videos.

When asked again about the “Barbie Ferreira is afraid of her laptop” comment, she laughed and said: “That’s exactly it! I really am afraid of my laptop—so much so that I don’t even have iCloud connected to it. It has another name, like I say ‘hi baby’… I only use my phone. Isn’t the phone everything anyway? It’s always with us. Am I contributing to a problem? Am I helping the tech army in the AI wars?”

Ferreira, who turns 30 in December, has spent much of her life online. She is part of the Tumblr generation, had her own blog, and even hosted a web show on Vice, for which she won a Webby Award. When it’s mentioned that earlier generations grew up without social media, she says wistfully: “You’re so lucky.”

Speaking about her relationship with the internet, she says: “The internet used to feel like a secret club. It was smaller, and like-minded people were there. Now everything is so expansive. I used to post things that were funny and personal, but I don’t do that much anymore because it might be misinterpreted. It’s become more private, just for close friends. The internet doesn’t feel like it used to.”

However, she is not only talking about herself but also about the broader world: “The internet feels scary now. The world itself isn’t in a good place either. When there’s war, death, and poverty, people take out their anger on celebrities. We’re part of this performance of showing our lives as perfect. I understand that, so I try not to share too much. As you get older, your relationship with the internet changes.”

Despite this distance, one thing hasn’t changed: her love for horror films. She has been a fan of the genre since childhood and still remembers watching The Ring. She says: “It really messed with my mind. I still can’t look at a static TV screen. I used to sleep with the lights on for years. But that’s what made me realize how powerful film can be.”

She hadn’t seen the original Faces of Death before getting the script, but later watched it. She laughs: “I saw it—it’s even on YouTube. Everything is there now.”

Ferreira says she has always been drawn to dark and macabre themes: “I’ve always been interested in the darker sides of life. I was kind of a punk, emo kid. I was always fascinated by death and fear.”

She even recalls a childhood memory: “In kindergarten, I told everyone I wanted to be a forensic doctor. My teacher got worried because only she knew what that job actually meant.”

Later, a practitioner of acupuncture told her she might be better off as an actress—because she could play a doctor instead. That moment shifted her thinking.

This month she has two very different films releasing: the horror Faces of Death and the romantic comedy Mile End Kicks. She calls the timing unusual: “Having two completely different films released in the same week was really unexpected. One is horror and blood, and the other is a romantic comedy set in Canada.”

Speaking about the second film, she says it felt familiar because she grew up in New York and has experienced life in artistic cities: “The story felt very real. People searching for art and identity felt very familiar to me.”

She plays a character named Grace, a girl dealing with complicated relationships, heartbreak, and trying to find her place in the world. She says: “It’s that confusion and need for validation in youth that we’ve all experienced.”

She also mentions that the intimate scenes in the film are very realistically written, which makes them relatable: “I had never seen scenes written this realistically before.”

Elsewhere in the interview, her ability to perform a Canadian accent is mentioned. She says it was a new challenge but she managed through practice.

Ferreira has appeared in six films so far, most of them directed by women. However, she says this wasn’t intentional: “It’s been accidental. But I tend to connect with scripts that feel very personal and written from a female perspective.”

Many people know her from the series Euphoria, where she played Kat Hernandez. She eventually left the show, later explaining that her decision was based on creative reasons, not behind-the-scenes conflict.

She says: “I didn’t feel Kat’s storyline was going somewhere meaningful for me. I felt there wasn’t anything left there for me.”

Between seasons of the series, she made four more films and moved toward independent projects.

She has also worked on Broadway in a play called Cult of Love, which she describes as a special experience. Returning to the stage was both challenging and rewarding, especially alongside experienced actors.

In conclusion, she says she wants to continue working primarily in independent cinema and artistic projects rather than purely commercial ones: “I want to be like Kirsten Dunst or Tilda Swinton—working on things that come from love for art, not just money.”

However, she emphasizes that income is still important, and advertising collaborations help her continue supporting independent films: “Those contracts help me make the films I love.”

Ultimately, her goal is simple: to continue her acting journey in her own way, with complete freedom in choosing her roles.