The Barbie movie is fast approaching — but titular star Margot Robbie didn’t know if it would ever come to fruition.
“I was very scared it was going to be a no. At the time this was such a terrifying thing to take on. People were like, You’re going to do what?” Robbie told Vogue in May 2023 of her production company, LuckyChap, approaching Mattel about the project.
Robbie noted that at the time, there wasn’t a set concept in mind. “We of course would want to honor the 60-year legacy that this brand has. But we have to acknowledge that there are a lot of people who aren’t fans of Barbie. And in fact, aren’t just indifferent to Barbie. They actively hate Barbie. And have a real issue with Barbie. We need to find a way to acknowledge that,” she explained.
The actress, who stars in the comedy alongside Ryan Gosling, Will Ferrell, Dua Lipa, Kate McKinnon, America Ferrera, Michael Cera, Simu Liu and more, eventually accepted the role but shared that she “really didn’t even think about playing Barbie until years into developing” the movie. Eventually, the concept came together when LuckyChap was given the green light — and after Robbie convinced Greta Gerwig to both direct the film and pen the script.
“It felt sparky to me in some way that felt kind of promising,” Gerwig told Vogue in May 2023, adding that she would only agree to the job if her partner, Noah Baumbach, co-wrote it with her. “I was the one who said, Noah and I will do this.”
“There really was this kind of open, free road that we could keep building,” Baumbach added. “It’s like you’re playing with dolls when you’re writing something, and in this case, of course, there was this extra layer in that they were dolls.”
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