Margot Robbie’s “Barbie” film casts Issa Rae, Hari Nef, Emma Mackey, Dua Lipa, Alexandra Shipp, Kate McKinnon and extra as completely different iterations of the enduring Mattel doll, however the first actor Robbie envisioned as a Barbie within the movie was none apart from Wonder Woman herself, Gal Gadot. She wasn’t out there, however Robbie defined to Vogue that Gadot’s “Barbie energy” grew to become a template for casting the entire movie’s Barbie roles.
What precisely is Barbie vitality? “Gal Gadot is Barbie energy,” Robbie mentioned. “Because Gal Gadot is so impossibly beautiful, but you don’t hate her for being that beautiful because she’s so genuinely sincere, and she’s so enthusiastically kind, that it’s almost dorky. It’s like right before being a dork.”
In taking part in the principle Barbie character herself, Robbie additionally needed to type by means of questions concerning magnificence and sexiness. After all, Barbie is a youngsters’s doll.
“I’m like, ‘Okay, she’s a doll. She’s a plastic doll. She doesn’t have organs. If she doesn’t have organs, she doesn’t have reproductive organs. If she doesn’t have reproductive organs, would she even feel sexual desire?’ No, I don’t think she could,” Robbie mentioned. “She is sexualized. But she should never be sexy. People can project sex onto her. Yes, she can wear a short skirt, but because it’s fun and pink. Not because she wanted you to see her butt.”
Robbie produced “Barbie” by means of her manufacturing firm LuckyChap. Her pitch to Mattel to get the rights to the character included a frank dialogue on how the movie must embrace not simply individuals loving the doll but additionally hating it as nicely.
“We of course would want to honor the 60-year legacy that this brand has,” Robbie mentioned in her pitch. “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.”
“Barbie” is directed by Greta Gerwig and co-stars Ryan Gosling as Ken. Gerwig wrote the script for the film with Noah Baumbach. Warner Bros is opening “Barbie” in theaters nationwide on July 21.