Barbie: Which actress did Margot Robbie replace?

Greta Gerwig’s Barbie hits theaters on Wednesday, July 19. But long before Margot Robbie slipped into a Mattel doll and made a feature film, another actress was being considered for the title role.

Since 2014, the live adaptation has been worn by actress and comedian Amy Schumer. The feature film, then to be produced by Sony, was billed as “Contemporary perceptions of beauty, femininity and identity“Once in a comedy tone.

But in March 2017 and after a controversy over casting, the film lost Barbie. Amy Schumer announced that she was leaving the project due to scheduling issues.

“Unfortunately, I can no longer commit to Barbie due to scheduling conflicts. The movie is so promising and Sony and Mattel have been great partners. I’m disappointed, but I can’t wait to see Barbie on the big screen.– he confirmed later The Hollywood Reporter.

The project was put on hold, and as of October 2018, Mattel approached Warner Bros. After Anne Hathaway was considered for the lead role, Margot Robbie has been hired to star in the film, which she is also producing through her company LuckyChap.

But last June, Amy Schumer returned to the project on the show Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. He explains:

“They said I was too thin.(laughs) then adds:I can’t wait to see the movie. It looks great. At that time we showed that it was about schedule conflicts. But in reality, these were creative differences. But there’s a new team behind it, and it seems like it’s very feminist and cool, so I really want to see that movie.”

A script that is not feminist enough

The host brings the actress to life and asks if the 2017 script was feminist, and the latter claims that the story wasn’t “feminist and cool” enough for her taste.

Screenwriter Diablo Cody, a 2007 Juno Oscar winner, was hired by Sony to write a version of the script, but left the project in 2018. Then he said that ScreenCrush :”I literally couldn’t get a sketch of the barbie. Still, God knows I tried.”

In a recent interview GQ magazineDiablo Cody explains that he finally understood the reason for his ban: “When I was hired to write Barbie in 2014, I don’t think popular culture had yet accepted the bimbo as a viable feminist archetype.

They wanted a feminist version of Barbie and I couldn’t because that’s not Barbie.

Today, if you search for “Barbie” on TikTok, you’ll find this wonderful subculture that celebrates femininity, but in 2014, taking this skinny blonde white doll and turning her into a hero was no small feat.

The idea of ​​the anti-Barbie made a lot more sense given the feminist rhetoric of a decade ago. I didn’t really have the freedom to write something that was faithful to the iconography; They wanted a feminist version of Barbie, and I couldn’t because that’s not Barbie.”

Years later and the #Metoo movement, Greta Gerwig And Noah Baumbach was allowed to make a Barbie doll movie that was feminist and cool.

Barbie It’s currently in theaters.