Not only is the Barbie movie happening, but the director-star pairing of Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie couldn’t be better.
We first reported in late 2016 that a big-screen adaptation of Mattel’s classic toy (now known for her outdated and unrealistic beauty ideal) was in the works. Sony had already commissioned and chucked different concepts, including one crafted by Diablo Cody and another meant to star Amy Schumer.
Then in July 2019, news broke that filmmaking partners Gerwig and Noah Baumbach, who sometimes, but not always, collaborate, had been hired to try to beat a story out of the world-famous IP that’s beloved by some and scorned by others for the body image havoc it has caused.
At that point, the studio was setting up the film as a vehicle for Robbie.
Now, there’s not only movement on the project but an announcement that Gerwig will direct. Speaking with British Vogue, Robbie said she was aware a Barbie film “comes with a lot of nostalgic baggage” and that some are eager to criticize, but hearing that Gerwig is writing and directing usually gets people to clam up. (Variety independently confirmed that Gerwig is set for the director’s chair on this one.)
No word yet on who will be playing Ken. (Editor’s note: Please be Adam Driver.)
Gerwig previously directed Little Women and Lady Bird and co-directed the aughts time capsule Nights and Weekends with Joe Swanberg. Gerwig and Baumbach, who are domestic partners of roughly a decade and parents of a young son, have collaborated on two other screenplays, Frances Ha and Mistress America. Gerwig also co-starred in Greenberg, which was co-written by Baumbach and his then-wife Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Before the plastic commodity comes to life, the couple will need to complete filming White Noise, in which Gerwig stars opposite Driver. Baumbach is adapting the lit major fave written by Don DeLillo in 1985, giving rise to expressions such as SIMUVAC and The Airborne Toxic Event.
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