Writer-director Greta Gerwig has established herself as one of Hollywood’s most important voices. “I’m always looking for a fun challenge as a writer and a director. To me, Barbie felt like a character with a story to tell. I could find a new, unexpected way into her story. I aimed to honor her legacy while making her world feel fresh, alive, and modern.”
“As with Little Women, Barbie is a property we all know,” says Gerwig.
“The idea of the multiplicity of the Barbies and then the Kens came out of my first meeting with Mattel. I started talking about different characters. They said, ‘No, we don’t have different characters. All of these women are Barbie.’ I replied with a thought. If all of these women are Barbie, then Barbie is all of these women. They said, ‘Yes.’,” Gerwig explains. She co-wrote the screenplay with Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story, The Squid and the Whale). They based it on Barbie by Mattel.
In March 1959, a doll was launched at the American Toy Fair in New York City. This doll was to change the face of the industry forever more. To this day, it puts a smile on the face of children all over the world. Created by the co-founder of Mattel, Ruth Handler, ‘Barbie’ was eleven inches of curvaceous adult plastic. She was a revolution in the doll industry. Until this time, the industry had only produced baby dolls. The Barbie doll, or to use her full name, ‘Barbara Millicent Roberts,’ was named after Handler’s own daughter Barbara. It was inspired by the German doll Bild Lilli. Handler had bought the rights to Bild Lilli. When launched in the US, it was the only adult doll in production. It challenged the long-standing notion that all young girls just wanted to be mothers. Baby dolls were given to them to nurture. Barbie changed all of that. She became an aspiration and an inspiration. She quickly proved a hit not just within the US, but globally. Over 60 years later, Barbie is still as popular as ever; in fact, she is the world’s top-selling doll. Sometimes controversial but always cherished, Barbie is part of our shared history and quite simply a cultural icon.
To live in Barbie Land is to be a perfect being in a perfect place. Unless you have a full-on existential crisis. Or you’re a Ken.
“It’s both a great opportunity in that everybody knows Barbie. The audience for this movie is bigger than any movie we’ve produced before. But the challenges are preconceived notions,” says producer Tom Ackerley. “But it also has no narrative. The ability to create one and build upon what Mattel has already done is really exciting. We’ve learned all these new words, like toyetic. Everything had to be delicious and tactile. Making everything toyetic was part of the learning experience for us as well.
“Being human is beautiful. I think Barbie is a great vehicle and a wonderful character to explore that,” says producer David Heyman. “In Barbie Land, every day is a perfect day and Barbie, the doll, is a representation of an ideal. But Barbie in the film ultimately embraces the imperfection and messiness that is life … It has been a privilege to work with Greta. She is a writer and director (and actor) with boundless talent. She is incredibly ambitious for the work creatively, cinematically, thematically, intellectually. And at the same time she is acutely aware of the audience and has a wish to entertain. This film is a comedy and it’s hysterically funny. It also has soul, meaning, and resonance. It conveys nuance and is deeply affecting and moving. Greta has shown in her earlier films her ability to do that with ease. She tells a rich, layered story with humanity and heart.”
“I grew up with Barbie,” says Gerwig. I was always waiting for our neighbors’ children to grow tired of theirs. Then they would give me the hand-me-down Barbies. That was the big thing I was always looking forward to. I have a very vivid, visceral memory of Barbie and what it meant.”
“‘Barbie’ came to me through Margot Robbie,” says Gerwig. “Margot was the one who had gotten the
rights, had brought it to Warner Bros., had initiated this entire project. We had met, and I was a big fan of hers as an actress. But then when we talked, I realized what an incredible producer she was. She was super smart and extremely involved and really interesting.”
Gerwig says, “Margot is our Stereotypical Barbie. In the film, she says, ‘I’m the Barbie everyone thinks of when you think of Barbie.'” And when you think of the most beautiful, cheerful, friendly, blonde lady you’ve ever seen, that’s Margot. But the thing I wanted to do most of all was to allow her to be outrageously funny. She’s the person you’re going to go on a real journey with in the movie. She always makes things grounded, relatable, and very emotional. Even when it’s ridiculously heightened and funny, you never feel like you lose the humanity.”
“Barbie is such a huge and globally recognized brand. It holds a nostalgic connection for people,” says Margot Robbie. She is one of the producers on the film and also stars as Barbie. “Making a Barbie movie was an amazing opportunity. We thought we can create something really special. We do this if we approached it in an unexpected, surprising, and clever way. Like Greta has said, it was also terrifying! We knew it was a lot to take on. Audiences probably have a preconceived notion of how they think and feel about Barbie. These feelings can be either good or bad. So, that presented a big challenge, but we were up for the challenge.”
“Margot brings a spirit, both as a producer and as a performer, of curiosity, of enthusiasm, of possibility,” says Heyman. “And she is fiercely intelligent. For this role, it’s essential to have someone who can embark on that journey of discovery. They must access the heart and humanity of the character. At the same time, they should have a keen sense of humor. This humor must be played with absolute sincerity and without any guile.”
As for Ken, “It was always Ryan Gosling,” says Robbie. “You’d think there are dozens of guys that could play Ken, but there’s actually not. Ryan ticked all the boxes. He’s a brilliant dramatic actor, he makes incredible choices, he can play the romantic and he can do comedy. And, of course, he also looks like Ken, he’s gorgeous.”
“We wrote this part specifically for Ryan Gosling,” says Gerwig. “He excels in dramatic roles. I knew he was really funny because I had watched all his ‘Saturday Night Live’ appearances. There was no plan B. It was always Ryan.”
“The script reminded me of everything I loved growing up, but somehow was still like nothing I had ever seen. It’s as funny as it is tragic. It’s as silly as it is profound. It’s all the things,” says Gosling. “My Ken was created to just watch the awesomeness that is Barbie. There’s even a line in the film when he says, ‘I only exist within the warmth of Barbie’s gaze.’ He has no identity of his own, so he’s in an existential hell. But he’s given a job, which is ‘beach.’ And he’s not sure what that job is specifically, but he really wants to be good at it.”
Cameras rolled on BARBIE on March 21, 2022, at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in Hertfordshire, England.
This was nearly two years after the start of the pandemic. During that time, Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach shut themselves away in their New York apartment. They crafted the screenplay that Gerwig would later sign on to direct.
During development, director Greta Gerwig called director Peter Weir. She asked about his work on “The Truman Show” in relation to lighting. She wanted to create that authentically artificial feel for Barbie Land. Audiences won’t see natural sunlight until Barbie and Ken arrive in Los Angeles. The entirety of the Barbie Land scenes were filmed on soundstages at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden.
GRETA GERWIG (Director / Writer / Executive Producer) is an Academy Award-nominated director and writer. She has established herself as one of Hollywood’s most important voices. Before writing and filming Barbie with Noah Baumbach, Gerwig’s last film, Little Women, received six Academy Award nominations. It was also nominated for five BAFTA Awards, in addition to PGA and WGA honors. Her debut film, Lady Bird, was nominated for five Academy Awards. It included nominations for Gerwig for Best Director. She was also nominated for Best Original Screenplay.
Gerwig is also a prolific actor. She received a Golden Globe nomination for her performance in Frances Ha. She also co-wrote it with Noah Baumbach. Last year she starred in his latest film, White Noise, opposite Adam Driver. Her additional acting credits include Jackie, Maggie’s Plan, 20th Century Women, Lola versus, Damsels in Distress and Mistress America.
