Barbie might be an ironic study of what entails physical perfection, with aesthetic symbolism that suffuses the movie’s entire runtime, but getting there wasn’t easy for most of the cast members.
The set design for Barbieland is something out of storybooks. Every frame has been tailored to bring a fairy tale setting to mind, while also paying tribute to the Mattel toy designs. And that’s not even taking the cast into account, whose costume design and makeup have been done with one goal in mind: To make everyone as pleasing to the eye as cinematically possible.
Well, the final result certainly didn’t come without sacrifices. As Ryan Gosling recently revealed in an interview, there apparently was a “wax room” where the Kens went to get their body hair removed, and while he doesn’t necessarily admit it, he looks like a man who can still hear the screams in his sleep.
Margot Robbie certainly remembers it fondly. “Some of the Kens actually waxed, and those were very entertaining days.”
“Oh my god,” Ryan interjects, “There was a wax room. It was like a horror movie. You could hear them screaming down the hall.”
“A lot of hair removal was needed to depict Barbieland,” adds Margot.
Ryan didn’t get the wax treatment, apparently, but according to what he says earlier in the video, he has always been resistant to the idea of shaving his legs, despite his mother constantly urging him to.
“My mom had been trying to get me to shave my leg for years,” he joked. “She was like, ‘Oh, Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig asked.’ [Throws his hands up in the air]”
Well, sometimes that’s all it takes, isn’t it?
Published: Jul 25, 2023 04:27 pm