Barbie: “I wouldn’t do it” … Margot Robbie demanded this condition to play in the movie

In Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, currently in theaters, Margot Robbie plays the perfect stereotypical doll: slender, with long blonde hair, blue eyes… The 2018 Oscar nominee for Best Actress, I, Tonya, was the perfect candidate. A play on a doll created by Ruth Handler in 1959 and named after her daughter Barbara. The latter is also the producer of the feature film and that’s why he got involved in the project very early on.

Since the creation of the iconic doll, Barbie has evolved. To date, there are more than 175 types of Barbie, many of which are represented in the film by Greta Gerwig, who also drew heavily on childhood memories in the development of the film.

Thus, Barbie was the first female astronaut, she is also a president, a judge, a lawyer, a journalist, a Nobel Prize winner, a football player, an astrophysicist… The dolls have also developed physically, some are brown, African-American, Asian, Muslim, Indian. The size of the toys has evolved over the years, some are smaller, some are rounder, and Mattel has also launched a range of dolls with disabilities: Barbie in a wheelchair, Barbie with a hearing aid and Barbie with vitiligo, the brand has launched Barbie. A doll with trisomy 21.

So many repetitions that are used in a feature film Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Issa Rae, America Ferrera and Simu Liu. For Margot Robbie, the presence of these different dolls was a condition for filming.

In an interview with the magazine timeRichard Dixon, president of Mattel, explains that Margot Robbie is a spitting image of Barbie, but that it works because she is the “gateway” to all the other Barbies in the film.

Lots of barbies

Margot Robbie explains to the magazine: “If Mattel hadn’t made that change to have a lot of Barbies, I don’t think I would have wanted to try to make a Barbie movie. The Barbie version, and that’s what women should aspire to.”

“If all these women are Barbies, then Barbies are all these women.”

Same story from Greta Gerwig, who stated in the press kit: “The idea for the Barbie and Kensi range was born from our first meeting with Mattel. The moment I started talking about multiple characters, I was told, “No, we don’t have different characters. All these women embody Barbie.’ I told them that if all these women were Barbies, then Barbies were all those women. And I was told: Yes, indeedGreta Gerwig recalls.

Isa Raewho plays President Barbie, continues:At first I was worried that the film would be too feminist and white, but I think Margot realizes that. Barbie Land is perfect and represents perfection. If perfection was just a bunch of white barbies, I wouldn’t like it, and I don’t know if anyone would agree.“.

Mattel and self-mockery

Richard Dixon concludes:It was about finding the right talent who could appreciate the authenticity of the brand and bring this controversy to life in a way that, while it may make us laugh, ultimately has purpose and heart.. Because even if the film is produced by Mattel, the brand does not spare.

In Barbie, Will Ferrell plays the CEO of Mattel, and every important position in the company is held by white men. While the latter like to say they are working so that little girls around the world can identify with the doll and feel less alone, the real reason is clearly financial. And it’s quite surprising that there is so much self-mockery about a given brand in a movie produced by Brandi.

The surprise was shared by Margot Robbie, who, after reading Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach’s script, said that the studios would never allow this film to be made.

During our meeting with the team (see above), Isa Rae He also told us that he was surprised when he read the script: “I’m surprised Mattel allowed this!“

The tour we owe Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie.

Barbie is in theaters now.