Barbie (2023)

Greta Gerwig: Barbie (US 2023) with Margot Robbie (Barbie) and Ryan Gosling (Ken).

US © 2023 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
    Data from Wikipedia:

Directed by Greta Gerwig

Written by Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach

Based on Barbie by Mattel

Produced by David Heyman, Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley, Robbie Brenner

Starring Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman, Will Ferrell

Cinematography Rodrigo Prieto

Edited by Nick Houy

Music by Mark Ronson, Andrew Wyatt

Production companies: Heyday Films, LuckyChap Entertainment, NB/GG Pictures, Mattel Films

Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures

114 minutes

Language English

Budget $145 million

    US premiere: 9 July 2023 (Los Angeles, Shrine Auditorium), 21 July 2023 (wide)
    Finnish premiere: 21 July 2023 - Warner Bros. Finland - Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Timo Porri / Hannele Vahtera
    Viewed at Finnkino Strand 4, Iso Kristiina, Lappeenranta, 21 July 2023

IMDb synopsis: " Barbie suffers a crisis that leads her to question her world and her existence. "

Wikipedia: " Barbie is a 2023 American fantasy comedy film directed by Greta Gerwig from a screenplay she wrote with Noah Baumbach. Based on the Barbie fashion dolls by Mattel, it is the first live-action Barbie film after numerous computer-animated direct-to-video and streaming television films. The film stars Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken, who go on a journey of self-discovery after their expulsion from the utopia Barbieland, alongside a large ensemble cast that includes America Ferrera, Simu Liu, Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman, and Will Ferrell. "

AA: I did not know what to expect and was totally amazed by Barbie. Greta Gerwig's Barbie is both a toy movie and a meta-reflection, brilliantly aware of the many levels of the world of game and play. For Aristotle, the human was the most mimetic being, and it all starts in child's plays, including with dolls and other toys. They are our early mediators between our interior and exterior worlds. That is the very subject of Gerwig's movie, here under the names "Barbieland" and "the Real World", separated by a portal, the destiny of which is a theme in finale of the film.

The same kind of level of wit and insight has been the hallmark of Pixar's The Toy Story series. All these films remind me of one of my favourite books, which I discuss in my note about Toy Story 3: Yrjö Hirn's Barnlek / Leikkiä ja taidetta [Child's Play / Play and Art, 1916]. Hirn argued that in children's games and toys there is a profound, noble and even sacred background that can be traced back to ancient forms of culture. 

It starts in Barbieland, an even-coloured world (like that of Asteroid City), however with associations of "the air-conditioned nightmare", where "the best day is every day". Dreams have come true. Barbieland is a matriarchy where Ken is a minor character. There are girls' nights only. Female agency rules.

But the real world reverberates into Barbieland with dystopian dreams of a "Death Barbie" and "Cellulite Barbie", although the portal is supposed to be closed ("never the twain shall cross"). "Who is playing with me?" In the finale, further Barbies are proposed, including a "Self-Effacing Barbie".

On the other side, Barbie discovers scathing dismissal of her entire world and existence as "a professional bimbo" and "capitalist stereotype", and Ken learns patriarchy. There is a revolution. Barbieland turns to Kenland and Kendom. But women take back agency in a counter-revolution.

I would not have expected in a Barbie movie dialogue about "Proustian flashbacks" and "cognitive dissonance". 

And I'm happy to rediscover the long-lost, ultimate dimensions of the American musical here. The dialectics of dream and reality. The play of identity best expressed in musical numbers where the sublime meets the ridiculous. Simple and fundamental dialogue such as "I don't know who I am without you" and "I only exist in the warmth of your gaze".

Such a grandeur in the horizon of the musical dreamland has hardly been achieved since the masterpieces of Jacques Demy. 

The reincarnated spirit of Ruth Handler (creator of Barbie at Mattel) becomes a major character, discussing death. "Humans have only one ending. Ideas live forever".

MORE DATA FROM WIKIPEDIA:

MORE DATA FROM WIKIPEDIA:

 " A live-action Barbie film was first announced in September 2009 by Universal Pictures with Laurence Mark producing, but development began in April 2014, when Sony Pictures acquired the film rights to the character. Following multiple writer and director changes and the casting of Amy Schumer and later Anne Hathaway in the titular role, Sony lost the rights, which were transferred to Warner Bros. Pictures in October 2018, with Robbie being cast in 2019. Gerwig was announced as director and co-writer with Baumbach in 2021. Gosling and the rest of the cast were announced in early 2022. Filming took place primarily at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden in England and on the Venice Beach Skatepark in Los Angeles, California from March to July 2022.

Barbie premiered at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on July 9, 2023, and is scheduled to be released theatrically in the United States on July 21, 2023, by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film received largely positive reviews, with particular praise aimed at its production values, Gerwig's direction, soundtrack, and cast performances (particularly those of Robbie and Gosling).

Plot

Stereotypical Barbie, alongside a wide range of fellow Barbies all reside in Barbieland, a matriarchal utopia. While their Ken counterparts spend their days engaging in recreational activities at the beach, the Barbies hold mostly academic job positions such as doctors, lawyers, and politicians. During a dance party, Stereotypical Barbie suddenly becomes stricken with worries about her own mortality. The following day, she finds herself low-spirited. She meets with Weird Barbie, a local outcast, who divulges that all residents of Barbieland are toys. In order to recover from her mysterious affliction, she must travel into the real world and find her owner.

On the way to Los Angeles, Stereotypical Barbie is joined by Stereotypical Ken, who has an unrequited crush on her. Arriving at Venice Beach through a portal, the pair cause multiple antics in the area, alarming the Mattel CEO, who orders their capture. Stereotypical Barbie tracks down her owner, a tween girl named Sasha. She and Ken find Sasha at a nearby school with her friends, who heavily mock Barbie, before learning that Sasha's mother Gloria, a Mattel employee, is the catalyst of her existential crisis. Gloria began playing with Sasha's Barbie toys while experiencing her own crisis, inadvertently transferring her concerns to Stereotypical Barbie. Stereotypical Barbie is almost caught by Mattel's CEO and his subordinates, but Gloria and Sasha rescue her before travelling together to Barbieland.

Meanwhile, Stereotypical Ken learns about the American patriarchal system and is indoctrinated by it. Returning to Barbieland, he easily persuades the other Kens into establishing their reign. The Barbies are rapidly subjugated into submissive roles as maids, housewives, and agreeable girlfriends. This oppressive scenario leads to Stereotypical Barbie becoming depressed. With the encouragement of Sasha, Gloria, Weird Barbie, Allan, and other abandoned toy lines, the Barbies retaliate against the Kens, leading the Kens to wage war against themselves on the Barbieland beach.

After a truce, the Barbies quickly regain their systemic power, and both Stereotypical Barbie and Ken apologize to one another. She understands her ineptness to his courting made him rebel and advises Ken to foster an autonomous identity. Stereotypical Barbie, who faces another calamity over her future role, meets once more with Mattel's CEO before Ruth Handler's intervention. Ruth explains that although Barbie was modelled after aspirational beauty standards, her ever-evolving history surpasses that of her roots. Moved by this, Stereotypical Barbie asks Ruth to turn her into a human before returning to the real world, a request which Ruth affirms she already embodies. Some time later, Gloria, her husband and Sasha take Stereotypical Barbie, now going by the name Barbara Handler, to a gynecologist for her first appointment.

Cast

Margot Robbie as Barbie, often referred to as "Stereotypical Barbie"

Different variations of Barbie played by:

Kate McKinnon as Weird Barbie

Issa Rae as President Barbie

Hari Nef as Dr. Barbie

Alexandra Shipp as Writer Barbie

Emma Mackey as Physicist Barbie

Sharon Rooney as Lawyer Barbie

Dua Lipa as the Mermaid Barbies

Nicola Coughlan as Diplomat Barbie

Ana Cruz Kayne as Judge Barbie

Ritu Arya as Journalist Barbie

Ryan Gosling as Ken

Different variations of Ken played by:

Kingsley Ben-Adir as Ken #1

Simu Liu as Ken #2

Scott Evans as Ken #3

Ncuti Gatwa as Ken #4

Rob Brydon as Sugar Daddy Ken

John Cena as Kenmaid

America Ferrera as Gloria, a Mattel employee who helps Barbie in the real world

Rhea Perlman as Ruth Handler, the creator of Barbie

Will Ferrell as the CEO of Mattel

Michael Cera as Allan

Ariana Greenblatt as Sasha, Gloria's daughter

Jamie Demetriou as a Mattel employee

Connor Swindells as Aaron Dinkins, a Mattel intern

Helen Mirren as the narrator

Emerald Fennell as Midge

Ann Roth as an old woman who meets Barbie

Annie Mumolo

Additionally, Marisa Abela has been cast in an undisclosed role.

Production

Development

Development on a film based on the Barbie toy line began in September 2009, when it was announced that Mattel had signed a partnership to develop the project with Universal Pictures and with Laurence Mark as producer, but nothing came to fruition. In April 2014, Mattel teamed with Sony Pictures to produce the film, which would have Jenny Bicks writing the screenplay and Laurie Macdonald and Walter F. Parkes producing through the Parkes+MacDonald Image Nation banner they created. Filming at the time was anticipated to begin by the end of the year. In March 2015, Diablo Cody was brought onto the project to rewrite the screenplay, and Amy Pascal joined the producing team. Sony would again have rewrites done to the screenplay later that year, hiring Lindsey Beer, Bert V. Royal, and Hillary Winston to write separate drafts.

In December 2016, Amy Schumer entered negotiations to star in the title role with Winston's screenplay; Schumer helped rewrite the script with her sister, Kim Caramele. In March 2017, Schumer exited negotiations, blaming scheduling conflicts with the planned June 2017 filming start; in 2023 she revealed she left the project due to creative differences with the film's producers at the time. That July, Anne Hathaway was under consideration for the title role, with Sony hiring Olivia Milch to rewrite the screenplay and approaching Alethea Jones to direct as a means to interest Hathaway into signing on. Jones was attached to direct by March 2018. However, the expiration of Sony's option on the project in October 2018 and its transfer to Warner Bros. Pictures would see the departures of Hathaway, Jones, Macdonald, Parkes and Pascal. Margot Robbie would enter early talks for the role, with Patty Jenkins briefly considered for the director position. Robbie's casting was confirmed in July 2019, with Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach now penning the screenplay. Gerwig would sign on to also direct the film in July 2021. Robbie stated that the film's aim is to subvert expectations and give audiences "the thing you didn't know you wanted."

Writing

Gerwig and Baumbach were given full creative freedom in writing the film. They collaborated on the screenplay during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns of 2020–2021 and described the writing process as "open" and "free". Gerwig's film treatment consisted of an abstract poem on Barbie influenced by the Apostles' Creed. For the narrative arc, she was partially inspired by the 1994 non-fiction book Reviving Ophelia by Mary Pipher, which accounts the effects of societal pressures on American adolescent girls. She also found inspiration in classic Technicolor musicals such as The Red Shoes (1948) and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964), which is she quoted saying of: "They have such a high level of what we came to call authentic artificiality. You have a painted sky in a soundstage. Which is an illusion, but it's also really there. The painted backdrop is really there. The tangibility of the artifice is something that we kept going back to". She was also influenced by her childhood experiences with the doll, as her mother had discouraged her from purchasing the dolls, but eventually allowed her to.

Gerwig described the film as being anarchic, unhinged, and humanist. She felt that the film had originated from the "deep isolation of the pandemic", opining that the line in which Margot Robbie says "Do you guys ever think about dying?" exemplifies the film's anarchic nature. She also found the idea of Barbie being "constrained in multitudes" as "all of these women are Barbie and Barbie is all of these women" to be "trippy" and felt as a result, Barbie did not need to have her own personal life, as she was attuned to her environment. She also described the story as mirroring a girl's journey from childhood to adolescence, though she did not deem it to be a coming of age film and felt that the film ultimately "ends up, really, about being human". Primarily, she began her writing by interpreting Barbie as living in a utopia and eventually experiencing reality, where she would have to "confront all the things that were shielded from them in this place [Barbieland]". As such, she chose to keep a scene featuring Robbie's Barbie tell an older woman that she's beautiful, as she felt that the scene had epitomized "the heart of the movie". Furthermore, she also desired to provide a "counterargument" to Barbie by featuring a scene in which Barbie learns that some women do not like her, and felt it gave the film "real intellectual and emotional power". Barbie also explores the negative consequences of hierarchical power structures, with Gerwig saying that she had extrapolated that "Barbies rule and Kens are an underclass" and felt it was antithetical to the Planet of the Apes.

Casting

In October 2021, Ryan Gosling entered final negotiations to play Ken in the film. America Ferrera, Simu Liu and Kate McKinnon were cast in February 2022. Liu auditioned for the film after his agent raved about the script being one of the best they had ever read. In March 2022, Ariana Greenblatt, Alexandra Shipp, and Emma Mackey were revealed to be in the cast. Will Ferrell joined the cast in April, along with Issa Rae, Michael Cera, Hari Nef, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Rhea Perlman, Ncuti Gatwa, Emerald Fennell, Sharon Rooney, Scott Evans, Ana Cruz Kayne, Connor Swindells, Ritu Arya and Jamie Demetriou. In April 2023, John Cena was announced in the film per the trailer that was released on the same day. It was later revealed that Cena had joined the film after paying for Robbie's meal in London during production.

During the casting process, Gerwig and Robbie looked for actresses with "Barbie energy" (which was described as "a certain ineffable combination of beauty and exuberance"). Mackey revealed in a 2022 interview with Empire that much of the supporting cast would be playing various iterations of Barbie and Ken. In an interview with Vogue in May 2023, Robbie revealed that she wanted Gal Gadot to play a Barbie in the film, but Gadot was unavailable due to scheduling conflicts. Helen Mirren narrated the film's trailer and also filmed a brief cameo for the film. Gerwig wanted her frequent collaborators Timothée Chalamet and Saoirse Ronan to make cameo appearances, but neither were available.

Set design

Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer serve as set designer and decorator, respectively, on the film. For the Barbie Dreamhouse, the pair drew inspiration from the mid-century modernist architecture found in Palm Springs, including the Kaufmann Desert House by Richard Neutra, as well as the photography of Slim Aarons. Gerwig wanted to capture "what was so ridiculously fun about the Dreamhouses", alluding to its previous models, and referenced Pee-wee's Big Adventure, the paintings of Wayne Thiebaud, and Gene Kelly's apartment flat in the 1951 Technicolor musical An American in Paris. "Everything needed to be tactile, because toys are, above all, things you touch", Gerwig was quoted saying of the use of practical effects instead of CGI to capture the sky and the San Jacinto Mountains. The set design is also noted for its extensive use of a specific shade of pink paint, Pantone 219, which reportedly resulted in an international shortage.

Costumes

Costume designer Jacqueline Durran, who had previously collaborated with Gerwig on Little Women (2019), employed a practical approach to create Barbie's wardrobe: "The defining characteristic of what she wears is where she's going and what she's doing, [i]t's about being completely dressed for your job or task." To match the film's Barbieland setting, Durran and her team created costumes made of roughly fifteen color combinations "that riffed off the idea of a French Riviera beach in the early 1960s" and drew inspiration from actress Brigitte Bardot. For Ken's outfits, Durran zeroed in a look composed of colorful sportswear from the 1980s, while actor Ryan Gosling suggested a Ken-branded underwear for the character. Durran closely adapted outfits from past iterations of Barbie dolls, such as the 1993 "Western Stampin'" dolls and the 1994 "Hot Skatin'" dolls. She noted the Barbie dolls as "a very useful way to look at different ideas of femininity: what that means, who owns it, and who it's aimed at" and reflected this idea in how she dressed the characters. While the majority of the clothing featured in the film were sourced by Durran and her team, they also pulled pieces from the fashion archives of Chanel.

Filming

Principal photography began in March 22, 2022 at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden in England and wrapped on July 21, 2022. Among the notable filming locations was the Venice Beach Skatepark in Los Angeles, California Rodrigo Prieto served as cinematographer. Prior to filming, Gerwig had organized a sleepover with the female cast members in order for them to establish positive relationships while also feeling that it "would be the most fun way to kick everything off". Reshoots took place in Los Angeles in April 2023. "