There’s a Pavement joke in the new ‘Barbie’ movie

Pavement get an unexpected mention in the new Barbie movie.

The joke is made during a montage where Kens start mansplaining to Barbies, with one referencing The Godfather and another talking about Stephen Malkmus‘ importance and how he relates to Lou Reed.

The joke supposedly references director Greta Gerwig and co-writer Noah Baumbach’s own love of indie rock.

When Pavement heard about it, they jokingly posted on their Instagram story: “We are aware of the Barbie Movie rumors and are awaiting guidance from legal but as a rule we are pro Greta.”

The indie rockers then shared a photo of Stephen Malkmus in the Mattel Barbie logo, writing, “Not a sponsored post but CAN BE @barbiethemovie just DM us for venmo.”

In other Barbie news, Greta Gerwig has revealed she fought to keep a scene where Barbie (Margot Robbie) tells an elderly woman on a bench that she is beautiful in the final cut.

“I love that scene so much,” Gerwig told Rolling Stone. “And the older woman on the bench is the costume designer Ann Roth. She’s a legend. It’s a cul-de-sac of a moment, in a way — it doesn’t lead anywhere. And in early cuts, looking at the movie, it was suggested, ‘Well, you could cut it. And actually, the story would move on just the same.’ And I said, ‘If I cut the scene, I don’t know what this movie is about.’

Meanwhile, it looks like Barbie is set to surpass Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, which also came to cinemas yesterday (July 21), at the box office. The film has also broken the record for highest-grossing opening weekend for a motion picture with a female director.