Despite its irreverent main character and glossy aesthetic, all the news from early screeners is that Barbie is shaping up to be one hell of a movie. However, star of the show and the main version of the titular character in the film, Margot Robbie, has revealed that as a child she wasn’t even a huge fan of the iconic doll.
In a wide-ranging interview with Vogue, Robbie went into lots of detail about her past with the famous Mattel product, which is known globally and is possibly the most recognizable toy of all time. “I don’t think I did,” the star says when asked by the interviewer if she had a Barbie doll. “I know my cousin had a bunch of Barbies, and I’d go to her house.” Robbie, having grown up on Australia’s famously gorgeous Gold Coast, was more of an outdoor child: “Building cubbies [forts] was what we did all day, every day.” Sounds idyllic, but not quite pink and glittery.
Robbie was keen to point out she had nothing against the dolls, though. It appeared more that Barbie simply wasn’t a part of her world:
“It wasn’t that I ever wanted to play Barbie, or dreamt of being Barbie, or anything like that. This is going to sound stupid, but I really didn’t even think about playing Barbie until years into developing the project.”
The role of Barbie in the film was originally taken by comedienne and actress Amy Schumer, who left the project for reasons that are yet to be confirmed. And, while Schumer would have undoubtedly added her own spin to the movie, Robbie seems to offer more of a gravitas that has allowed Gerwig to delve into some intense themes for a movie about a doll, like depersonalization. All of this (plus the fact it’s being pitched against Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer thanks to their shared release date) has built the hype to a maximum.
Although Robbie might not have been a huge fan of the dolls growing up, she’s been pretty open about how much she loved working on the film, telling Variety about how it was near-constant laughs, even with the darker themes that Gerwig has seemingly tried to unearth.
Robbie was also a producer on the film before she took on the starring role, and talked about how “The word [Barbie] itself is more globally recognized than practically everything else other than Coca-Cola.” In fact, she was one of the driving forces behind getting it made, positioning her production company LuckyChap as the ones to get the story out there. For a woman who’d hardly been interested in the doll, she quickly became one of its biggest champions.
Robbie also discussed with Vogue how there was no real concept in mind for the film, other than honoring “the 60-year legacy that this brand has.” However, she is also a realist, and knew pitching a movie about a doll needed something deeper to get greenlit, even if that doll happens to be the most famous one in the world:
“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.”
However, the concept is now very much in place, and it seems to be a doozy that will attract more than the usual young-girls-excited-about-Barbie-related content. According to the film’s IMDB page, Robbie’s Barbie will be exiled from Barbie Land while in the midst of an “existential crisis,” which is its own great little joke when you realize that everyone in Barbie Land is named Barbie. As per the film’s description: “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.”
From being indifferent to the character, Barbie seems to have taken on a huge role in Robbie’s life, and has been all-consuming. She was the one who managed to get Gerwig onboard (after telling the Little Women director she could write the script with her partner), and the rest could be history, if the early screenings are anything to go by. So much for a girl who never played with a Barbie.