Barbie | บาร์บี้ | 20 กรกฎาคม 2023

To live in Barbie Land is to be a perfect being in a perfect place.  Unless you have a full-on existential crisis.  Or you’re a Ken.

From Oscar-nominated writer/director Greta Gerwig (“Little Women,” “Lady Bird”) comes “Barbie,” starring Oscar-nominees Margot Robbie (“Bombshell,” “I, Tonya”) and Ryan Gosling (“La La Land,” “Half Nelson”) as Barbie and Ken, alongside America Ferrera (“End of Watch,” the “How to Train Your Dragon” films), Kate McKinnon (“Bombshell,” “Yesterday”), Issa Rae (“The Photograph,” “Insecure”), Rhea Perlman (“I’ll See You in My Dreams,” “Matilda”), and Will Ferrell (the “Anchorman” films, “Talladega Nights”).  The film also stars Michael Cera (“Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” “Juno”), Ariana Greenblatt (“Avengers: Infinity War,” “65”), Ana Cruz Kayne (“Little Women”), Emma Mackey (“Emily,” “Sex Education”), Hari Nef (“Assassination Nation,” “Transparent”), Alexandra Shipp (the “X-Men” films), Kingsley Ben-Adir (“One Night in Miami,” “Peaky Blinders”), Simu Liu (“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”), Ncuti Gatwa (“Sex Education”), Scott Evans (“Grace and Frankie”), Jamie Demetriou (“Cruella”), Connor Swindells (“Sex Education,” “Emma.”), Sharon Rooney (“Dumbo,” “Jerk”), Nicola Coughlan (“Bridgerton,” “Derry Girls”), Ritu Arya (“The Umbrella Academy”), Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Dua Lipa and Oscar-winner Helen Mirren (“The Queen”).

Gerwig directed “Barbie” from a screenplay by Gerwig & Oscar nominee Noah Baumbach (“Marriage Story,” “The Squid and the Whale”), based on Barbie by Mattel.  The film’s producers are Oscar nominee David Heyman (“Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood,” “Marriage Story,” “Gravity”), Robbie (“Birds of Prey,” “Promising Young Woman,” “I, Tonya”), Tom Ackerley (“Promising Young Woman,” “I, Tonya”) and Oscar nominee Robbie Brenner (“Dallas Buyers Club”), with Gerwig, Baumbach, Ynon Kreiz, Richard Dickson, Michael Sharp, Josey McNamara, Courtenay Valenti, Toby Emmerich and Cate Adams serving as executive producers.

Gerwig’s creative team behind the camera included Oscar-nominated director of photography Rodrigo Prieto (“The Irishman,” “Silence,” “Brokeback Mountain”), Oscar-nominated production designer Sarah Greenwood (“Beauty and the Beast,” “Anna Karenina”), Oscar-winning costume designer Jacqueline Durran (“Little Women,” “Anna Karenina”), editor Nick Houy (“Little Women,” “Lady Bird”), visual effects supervisor Glen Pratt (“Paddington 2,” “Beauty and the Beast”) and music supervisor George Drakoulias (“White Noise,” “Marriage Story”), with a score by Oscar winners Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt (“A Star Is Born”), who also contributed to numerous songs on the film’s soundtrack.  The soundtrack includes an impressive roster of today’s hottest music artists, including Lizzo, Dua Lipa, Nicki Minaj & Ice Spice with Aqua, Charli XCX, KAROL G feat. Aldo Ranks, Tame Impala, Dominic Fike, HAIM, The Kid LAROI, Khalid, PinkPantheress, GAYLE, Ava Max, FIFTY FIFTY and more.

Warner Bros. Pictures Presents a Heyday Films Production, a LuckyChap Entertainment Production, an NB/GG Pictures Production, a Mattel Production, “Barbie.”  The film will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures and released in theaters only nationwide on July 21, 2023 and beginning internationally on July 19, 2023.

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GRETA GERWIG (Director/Writer/Executive Producer)

On making “Barbie”… 

“Barbie has so much recognition, so much love, and of course a 60-plus-year history, which was exciting for me. As a writer and a director, I’m always looking for a fun challenge. As with Little Women, Barbie is a property we all know, but to me she felt like a character with a story to tell, one that I could find a new, unexpected way into, honoring her legacy while making her world feel fresh and alive and modern.”

On understanding Barbie…

“The idea of the multiplicity of the Barbies and then the Kens really did come out of my first meeting with Mattel, when I started talking about different characters and they said, ‘No, we don’t have different characters.  All of these women are Barbie.’  And I replied that if all of these women are Barbie then Barbie is all of these women, and they said, ‘Yes.’”

On Barbies past…

“I grew up with Barbie, but I was always waiting for our neighbors’ children to grow tired of theirs so they would give me the hand-me-down Barbies.  That was the big thing I was always looking forward to.  I have a very vivid, visceral memory of Barbie and what it meant.”

On Margot Robbie as a producer…

“‘Barbie’ came to me through Margot Robbie.  Margot was the one who had gotten the rights, had brought it to Warner Bros., had sort of spearheaded this whole project, and we had met, and I was a big fan of hers as an actress.  But then when we talked, I realized what an incredible producer she was.  She was super smart and extremely involved and really interesting.”

On Margot Robbie as Barbie…

“Margot is our Stereotypical Barbie, as she says in the film, ‘I’m the Barbie everyone thinks of when you think of Barbie.’  And when you think of the most beautiful, cheerful, friendly, blonde lady you’ve ever seen, that’s Margot.  But the thing I wanted to do most of all was to allow her to be outrageously funny.  She’s the person you’re going to go on a real journey with in the movie and because she’s always able to make things grounded, relatable, and very emotional even when it’s ridiculously heightened and funny, you never feel like you lose the humanity.”  

On Ryan Gosling…

“We wrote this part specifically for Ryan Gosling.  Even though he’s so wonderful in dramatic roles, I knew he was really funny as I had watched all his ‘Saturday Night Live’ appearances.  There was no plan B.  It was always Ryan.”

On pink…

“First and foremost, I wanted Barbie Land to feel like a happy place—where Barbie lives in our childhood imaginations. One of the first days I met with [production designer] Sarah Greenwood and the art team, we looked at all the different shades of pink to determine how they would interact. As a little girl, I liked the brightest pinks, but Barbie Land would incorporate the full spectrum of the color, so it was important to figure out where those bright pinks would live alongside our palest, pastel pink, and of course every tone of pink in between.”

 

On defying gravity…

“There’s no place for Newton’s laws in Barbie Land.  There is no wind, there is no sun, no gravity and no water, but as filmmakers we do live in a world of physics, so when dealing with the reality of Barbie Land, there were the rules of Barbie Land and then there were the rules we’ve set up for the filmmaking, and then how those two things interacted.  I’m in love with 1950s soundstage musicals, those wonderfully artificial spaces, and because Barbie was invented in 1959, it felt like we could ground everything in that look and not be so beholden to it.  I want everyone to feel like they can reach up to the screen and touch everything, because that’s the great thing about dolls and toys. I remember standing in a Toys ‘R Us toy store, looking at Barbies and their accessories with the plastic over them, and wanting to take everything apart and touch everything!”

On the soundtrack and score…

“There’s a lot of music in the movie—that was always super important to me.  Barbie has a level of optimism that influenced us when we were writing the script, a sort of sincerity mixed with joyfulness meets a ‘doesn’t everybody just want to dance?’ attitude.  Mark [Ronson] really threaded that through the movie with the amazing artists who came in to contribute songs, like Dua Lipa, Lizzo, Nicki Minaj, Karol G…so many!  It was such a treat to work with all these artists.  And Mark and his partner, Andrew Wyatt, wrote an anthem of sorts for Ken, which Ryan sings, and it’s epic.  We have a ballad that made me cry when I heard it.  Mark and Andrew also wrote the score, and they wove that melody through several scenes.” 

 

MARGOT ROBBIE (“Barbie” / Producer)

On making “Barbie”…

“Barbie is such a huge and globally recognized brand with so much nostalgic connection for people.  Making a Barbie movie was an amazing opportunity, one we thought we could do something really special with if we could approach it in an unexpected, surprising and clever way.  Like Greta has said, it was also terrifying!  We knew it was a lot to take on, as audiences probably have a preconceived notion of how they think and feel about Barbie, whether good or bad.  So, that presented a big challenge, but we were up for the challenge.”

On Greta Gerwig…

“Greta is an incredible director and writer and an auteur, and she’s going to be a part of that handful of film directors that defines the filmmaking of our era.  And what’s amazing about her in particular is the way that she bridges the world between old-school filmmaking and her understanding and passion for the whole hundred years of film, with a very modern point of view on simply being a human in this world.”

“Greta has this superpower in the vibe she creates on set, which is so in line with what we wanted Barbie Land to be: bright, happy and supportive.  Greta is the happiest, loveliest, most supportive director and she’s also insanely talented.  She’s literally got Barbie energy.”

On Ryan Gosling…

“It was always Ryan.  You’d think there are dozens of guys that could play Ken, but there’s actually not.  Ryan ticked all the boxes.  He’s a brilliant dramatic actor, he makes incredible choices, he can play the romantic and he can do comedy. And, of course, he also looks like Ken, he’s gorgeous.”

On Barbie Land…

“It’s simple: you got a car, you got a house and then you got a Ken and that’s the fun of this world, Barbie Land.  It’s kind of a flipside of the real world where men are in charge.  In Barbie Land it’s the opposite, women—Barbies—run everything.”

“We can all see each other—all the Barbies own their own Barbie DreamHouses, and when they wake up in the morning, they can wave at each other, totally see each other because there are no walls, and they love it, there is no embarrassment.  It’s like the Garden of Eden before they felt the need to put clothes on.  That’s what waking up in Barbie Land is like, except, of course, there are clothes, and they are fabulous!”

On dressing up as Barbie…

“Getting dressed is part of Barbie’s perfect day.  Barbie wakes up in her bed, waves at the Barbie next door, she brushes her teeth, has a shower and then goes to her magic wardrobe to get her outfit for the day.  She opens the doors and all she needs to do is look at it, give a spin and ‘poof’ it’s on her body.  Then when she walks off, her outfit for the next day is sitting in the wardrobe behind her.”

“You’ll notice a lot of Chanel, Barbies like Chanel!  I’ve got some great Chanel outfits in the film that I got to wear.  The mentality with Barbie is that she has all the accessories—there’s always a hat or bow and earrings and jewelry. The jewelry is big in the way it would be on a doll: big plasticky necklaces and earrings.  Hats are never for protection from the sun, they’re just another accessory, along with bags and shoes and all of it!  It was really fun.”

“Our costume designer, Jacqueline Durran, was incredible; her approach to the arc of the film is subtle and maybe not something you’ll notice on first watch, but I think if you read this and then watch the film, you’ll see this evolution chronologically through decades of Barbie fashion.  For example, my Barbie begins in this very controlled, safe existence, so her outfits are controlled, with clean lines, a lot of structure and strong colors.  As she evolves through the story, that begins to change in her wardrobe as well, and she becomes softer.”

 

RYAN GOSLING (“Ken”)

On the screenplay…

“The script reminded me of everything I loved growing up, but somehow was still like nothing I had ever seen.  It’s as funny as it is tragic.  It’s as silly as it is profound.  It’s all the things.”

On Greta Gerwig…

“She’s an incredibly inspiring, inclusive, brilliant person who encouraged everyone around her to take big swings and not limit ourselves by dividing our work into either drama or comedy.”

On Ken…

My Ken was created to just observe the awesomeness that is Barbie, and there’s even a line in the film when he says he only exists within the warmth of Barbie’s gaze.  He has no identity of his own, so he’s in a kind of existential hell.  But he’s given a job, which is ‘beach.’  And he’s not sure what that job is specifically, but he really wants to be good at it.”

 

On Ken’s journey…

“What prompts Ken to go on this journey with Barbie is that he’s been told that he’s her boyfriend, though there seems to be no other evidence of anything special in their dynamic.  But they are a set and that is why he was created.  So, for Ken it’s inconceivable for her to leave without him.”

 

DAVID HEYMAN (Producer)

On Barbie…

“Being human is a beautiful thing and I think Barbie is such a great vehicle and a great character with which to explore that.  In Barbie Land, every day is a perfect day and Barbie, the doll, is a representation of an ideal.  But Barbie in the film ultimately embraces the imperfection and messiness that is life.”

On Margot Robbie…

“Margot brings a spirit, both as a producer and as a performer, of curiosity, of enthusiasm, of possibility.  And she is fiercely intelligent.  For this role it’s essential that you have someone who can go on that journey of discovery and is able to access the heart and the humanity of the character, and at the same time have a keen sense of humor played with absolute sincerity, without any guile.”

On Greta Gerwig…

“It has been a privilege to work with Greta.  She is a writer and director (and actor) with boundless talent.  She is incredibly ambitious for the work creatively, cinematically, thematically, intellectually.  And at the same time she is acutely aware of the audience and has a desire to entertain.  This film is a comedy and it’s hysterically funny; it also has soul and meaning and resonance and nuance and is deeply affecting and moving.  Greta, as she’s shown in her previous films, is able to do that with such ease and dexterity, to tell a rich layered story, with humanity and heart.”

 

TOM ACKERLEY (Producer)

On making “Barbie”…

“It’s both a great opportunity in that everybody knows Barbie and the audience for this movie is potentially bigger than any than movie we’ve produced before, but the challenges of that are preconceived notions.  But it also has no narrative and the ability to create one and build upon what Mattel has already done is really exciting.  All these new words we’ve learned, like toyetic, everything had to be delicious and tactile and toyetic, that was part of the learning experience for us as well.”

On the “Barbie” ensemble cast…

“We were floored by the group of people that were willing to come be a part of this movie.  Even just talking about the Barbies and Kens exclusively, to be able to be in the presence of so much joy that was created with them.  We really had them all together for such a short period of time, but you immediately wanted the shoot to go on longer, especially during the dance party.  All those people in the same space at the same time, dancing and having fun—I wanted to be over there.  I was like, ‘Why do I have to be in a production office for this?’”

 

ROBBIE BRENNER (Producer)

On discovering Barbie’s path to the big screen…

“When I first got to Mattel to run the movie division, I went through all the IP and created a list of the hundreds of titles that felt good for theatrical.  I never thought Barbie would be the first to become a movie because Barbie is so open-ended, Barbie could be so many things, and because everybody has a relationship with Barbie, it felt like a Herculean task to figure out what a Barbie movie would be about.  But when we met with Margot [Robbie] and she introduced the idea of Greta [Gerwig], our adventure really began.  Then, when I read the script, I just thought, ‘Wow.’  I mean, it was one of the most unique scripts I had ever read in my life, just an incredible kind of ‘Wizard of Oz’ journey in such a fun way.”

On representing Barbie…

“Mattel takes Barbie very seriously.  They’ve sent her to the moon, she’s been the President.  The goal is always to make her inspirational and aspirational, and there are new Barbies every year.  It’s amazing how Barbie has evolved as something really wonderful to play with and also to dream with.  That said, there are people who aren’t fans of Barbie, and Greta and Noah [Baumbach] did what they do so brilliantly, which is to explore all sides of Barbie and of the conversation around Barbie.  By laughing with and embracing all things about Barbie at the same time makes the movie complex, interesting and simply brilliant.  That’s what makes the film a fun and funny and deep and emotional experience for everyone.  It really just hits you in so many ways.”

THE BARBIES:

Kate McKinnon (Barbie): “We were in a playwriting class together and Greta is a genius, and it was absolutely no surprise when she became an award-winning writer and director.  Someone told me that she was making the Barbie movie and I thought, perfect.  And my agent told me about the role of this Barbie, and I thought, ‘Okay, I’m home.  If you asked me to pick a role for myself, it would be this Barbie.  My sister had a bunch of Barbies whose hair she brushed and whose clothes she cared for, but there was one receptacle of her ire that got its head shaved.  You keep a Barbie with her legs splayed as far as they will go—it’s just a Barbie that every little girl grew up with.”

Issa Rae (Barbie): “The most flattering thing in the world is when Greta said, ‘You know, when I was thinking about who I wanted to be President in this world, I thought wouldn’t it be cool if Issa were President?’  And I was like, ‘What, me?’  To have the opportunity to play President of all the Barbies, even though all Barbies can do anything and are capable of everything, is such a treat.” 

Hari Nef (Barbie): “There’s a streak of satire and absurdism in the framework of Barbie Land that addresses and pokes fun at the culture we live in, which is amazing because girls can and should be everything.  That can put a lot of pressure on the girls to be everything, but in “Barbie,” Greta creates this nuanced dynamic where we revel in things and laugh at them at the same time.  I think the person who owns me is a 38-year-old gay man who lives in the West Village and collects dolls, because honey, this outfit is perfectly preserved in the box!  This is no child’s play!”

Alexandra Shipp (Barbie): “It was beautiful to see the various types of Barbies that Greta brought in with the main cast and also the supporting artists—people from all ethnic backgrounds, of all sizes, some differently abled.  I think that it’s important for people to see that Barbies don’t just look like Margot, and that means a lot.  Greta’s approach to what makes each Barbie unique was a mixture of getting to know us as individual humans, and then fusing that with what she saw for these various Barbies.”

Emma Mackey (Barbie): “One thing that Greta was very specific about is that we were all one. We are all one same being, but we are all different idiosyncratic representations of that one same bundle of Barbie.” 

Sharon Rooney (Barbie): “The most important thing Greta said, and the thing that I’ve carried with me, is that Barbie is everything and she is anything; there’s nothing she can’t do and there’s no one she can’t be.  I think the other girls would say they’ve taken this with them as well: We are all Barbie, and we can all do everything, and we can do it all really well.”

Ana Cruz Kayne (Barbie): “I have a very diverse background as my mom is from the Philippines and my father is a Jewish man, and so I was raised deeply in both cultures.  And I don’t think that is a unique story to me.  I think there are many people walking around this world who hold two cultures very richly in their lives and they don’t present one physically and phenotypically, but it is actually extremely unique to them and a big part of their background. My Barbie represents those people, and I feel emotional about it because I rarely get to be all the parts of myself and represent a sliver of those people who are not other, but everything.”

Emerald Fennell (Midge): “The running gag throughout the film is that Midge is constantly trying to get into shot and the camera constantly shies away from her.  In terms of self-esteem as an actress, having the camera actively moving away from you can be somewhat devastating, but I knew what I signed up for!.” 

 

JUST THE KENS:

Kingsley Ben-Adir “My choice was that, in some ways, this guy doesn’t have a brain, and I wanted him to represent those dudes I grew up with who really sort of pick a leader to follow and base all of their thoughts and opinions around someone else, because they don’t know what to think.  And what’s really made this so fun was that I didn’t really know what I was doing until I saw what Ryan was doing.  It became really playful and spontaneous, and every time I would see the scene in my head, we ended up playing it in a completely different way.”

Simu Liu “Kens are just Kens.  They just hang around and a lot of their identity is derived from being able to win the gaze of the Barbies, and so they are really just kind of hypercompetitive about really dumb things.  It’s revealed that my Ken is a skilled dancer, and he can do backflips and Ryan’s Ken really resents that.”

Ncuti Gatwa “My Ken is a little bit softer and more vulnerable. I think he’s just happy to kind of be a part of a ‘thing.’  He just wants to be involved and be included and loves that Kens are all there for each other.  It’s an amazing and precise social commentary on society and gender norms, done in a pink, fluffy way.”

Scott Evans “Coming in, the Kens all had a general sense of who they were and what their jobs were, which is called ‘beach.’  Greta explained that the Kens don’t really have houses and they don’t really have jobs. They don’t really have anything!  I took on the role of a more dramatic Ken, and then there was Kingsley, who was just a sort of wide-eyed Ken, and Ncuti, who played a very sweet and simple Ken.”

 

OH, YEAH, AND ALLAN:

Michael Cera “The way that Greta and Noah handle my character in the movie is that Allan’s sort of this marginalized person in this world of Kens; he’s basically not a success or popular. He’s just a loner, always on the periphery, desperate to fit in but really just not on the same wavelength as the Ken fraternity around him.”

OUR HUMANS IN THE REAL WORLD:

America Ferrera is Gloria: “Gloria is the ‘every woman.’  At work she’s low on the totem pole.  She has longtime dreams of climbing up the ladder and influencing the brand she works on.  I didn’t grow up playing with Barbies or think that I had any relationship to Barbie, but we all do, because she’s such a part of our culture.”

“When the script came to me, I trusted that Greta and Margot would have a perspective; by the time I finished reading it, I was a Barbie Girl.  I remember laughing and crying at the same time, there was so much humanity in the story and so much generosity of spirit for all the characters.  It was irresistible and I found myself invested in the story and all the characters, especially Gloria.”

Ariana Greenblatt is Gloria’s daughter, Sasha: “Sasha is a very direct girl, very educated, and she thinks logically with everything.  She has an opinion on almost everything and she doesn’t sugarcoat anything.  She will tell you how it is and she’s the queen bee at her school, so a lot of people are scared of her. It was really fun to play.” 

“Sasha and her mom go through a lot of rollercoasters of emotions, they disagree on a lot of things.  Sasha is quite hard on Gloria, but there are different sides of Sasha.  Although they bicker and fight, there’s just that mother-daughter bond that everyone will understand.  It’s such a relatable and beautiful arc and storyline between them, and it was really fun to do.”

Will Ferrell is the Mattel CEO: “I think it’s gonna make Mattel look like geniuses because, while the film is a showcase for the Barbie universe, they’re still showing that they have a sense of humor about having a little fun poked at them.  We meet my character and our team when we find out that there’s been a rift in-between Barbie Land and the Real World.  Barbie and Ken are running around the human world as life-size versions of themselves.  We realize that first and foremost, this is not good, but it’s not good because it’s not good for business.  So we at Mattel have got to get, literally and figuratively, Barbie back in the box.  We are kind of menacing, but it’s always undercut with silliness.”

“Greta encouraged us to improvise, and that encouraged more ideas between myself, Jamie Demetriou and Connor Swindells. It gave us the chance to really feel like we were a team and know each other and play off of each other, to bicker amongst each other and give this silly framework to this big important CEO and his lackeys.  It was fun to create this dynamic between us that we’re all fumbling and bumbling.”

 

FUN FILM FACTS

 

Cameras rolled on BARBIE on March 21, 2022, at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in Hertfordshire, England, nearly two years to the date when, at the start of the pandemic, Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach shut themselves away in their New York apartment to craft the screenplay Gerwig would later sign on to direct.

 

During development, director Greta Gerwig called director Peter Weir to ask about his work on “The Truman Show” in relation to lighting and creating that authentically artificial feel that she wanted for Barbie Land.

 

Audiences won’t see natural sunlight until Barbie and Ken arrive in Los Angeles.  The entirety of the Barbie Land scenes were filmed on soundstages at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden. 

 

The view outside of the Mattel boardroom was a scenic panorama.  It was painted by hand and was over 250 feet long; it includes a nod to Warner Bros.—a keen eye will spot the company logo.  Los Angeles is also painted in, a nod to the Emerald City from “The Wizard of Oz.”

 

The Los Angeles skyline featured in the film includes the General Motors building; in the movie, Ken drives a Hummer and Barbie’s convertible is inspired by a Chevy classic.

 

Kate McKinnon’s Barbie’s House has holes hidden across the set, designed to enable McKinnon to hide one of her actual legs during filming, with a fake leg up against the wall to give the impression she is in the splits.

 

There are no solid black or white colors in any of the Barbie Land set designs.

 

While the cast and crew filmed the “sunny” Barbie Land beach scenes on Stage N at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, a blizzard was making life very cold for everyone outside.

 

In the Barbie dance party sequence, choreographer Jennifer White deliberately included specific dance elements from Busby Berkeley’s “Gold Diggers,” one of director Greta Gerwig’s favorite films.

 

There were over 30 individual hobby horses made for the Kens.  They were all handmade and the art department gave them all their own individual characteristics.

 

The Barbie ambulance, which rescues Ken after his surfing mishap, was a full-sized copy of a toy ambulance.  Another joint effort between the departments, it automatically opens out into a doctor’s surgery, a fully realized special effect on set. 

 

Barbie’s car was operated by a remote-controlled transmitter with a member of the SFX team sitting in a custom-built chair and using VR drone technology, enabling Margot Robbie’s Barbie to “drive” hands-free around the set.

 

Barbie’s vehicle is electric, as is Ken’s Hummer, which was one of the first electric Hummers to come off the production line. 

 

The flamingo mailbox outside Barbie’s DreamHouse also doubles as an electric charging station for Barbie’s car.

For Barbie and Ken’s arrival in Los Angeles, director Greta Gerwig used the reference of “Midnight Cowboy” to illustrate how she wanted them to appear, specifically the sequence when Jon Voight is walking through New York City, clearly out of place. 

 

The Barbie DreamHouses were over 25 feet high.  Margot Robbie did all her own stunts, including jumping from the top of the house.

 

The cast and crew of “Barbie” have 50 Academy Award nominations between them and a total of eight Oscar wins.

 

Will Ferrell’s character is simply named Mattel CEO, his name is never revealed.  Similarly, certain Mattel employees, including Jamie Demetriou’s character, are named Mattel Executive #1, #2 etc.  Ironically, only Connor Swindell’s Mattel intern is given a name, Aaron Dinkins.

 

Inspired by the movie “Mean Girls,” every Wednesday the crew were encouraged to wear something pink.  Everyone got very involved and took it seriously.

 

When Barbie observes a session of the Barbie Land Supreme Court, Margot Robbie is wearing a vintage Chanel suit that had been previously worn by model and actress Claudia Schiffer. 

 

In “Barbie,” Margot Robbie’s Barbie never wears any rings on her fingers—a nod to the classic toy doll having fingers that are connected, and therefore don’t accommodate rings.

 

Cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto coined the term TechnoBarbie with Greta Gerwig to describe the style of photography and lighting they used for Barbie Land.

 

The Kens may have their differences, however, they do share one thing in common apart from their adoration of the Barbies: body waxing.  As director Greta Gerwig explained to them on numerous occasions, Kens are not mammals, they’re dolls.

 

WHAT A DOLL!

 

In March 1959, a doll was launched at the American Toy Fair in New York City that was to change the face of the industry forever more and, to this day, puts a smile on the face of children all over the world.  Created by the co-founder of Mattel, Ruth Handler, ‘Barbie’ was eleven inches of curvaceous adult plastic, a revolution in the doll industry, which until this time had only produced baby dolls.  The Barbie doll, or to use her full name, ‘Barbara Millicent Roberts,’ was named after Handler’s own daughter Barbara and inspired by the German doll Bild Lilli, to which Handler had bought the rights.  When launched in the US, it was the only adult doll in production and challenged the long-standing notion that all young girls just wanted to be mothers, hence giving them baby dolls to nurture.  Barbie changed all of that; she became an aspiration and an inspiration, and she quickly proved a hit not just within the US, but globally. Over 60 years later, Barbie is still as popular as ever; in fact, she is the world’s top-selling doll.  Sometimes controversial but always cherished, Barbie is part of our shared history and quite simply a cultural icon.

ABOUT THE CAST

MARGOT ROBBIE (Barbie / Producer) is an Academy Award-nominated actress and producer who has captivated global audiences with breakout performances alongside some of the most notable names in film. Continually evolving her diverse body of work, Robbie brings gripping narratives to life in coveted roles that speak to her powerful on-screen presence.

Robbie was recently seen in David O. Russell’s film Amsterdam, alongside Robert De Niro, Christian Bale, Chris Rock, and John David Washington, and in Damien Chazelle’s 1920s Hollywood drama, Babylon, alongside Brad Pitt, for which she received numerous awards nominations.

In August 2021, Robbie reprised her role as the fan-favorite Harley Quinn in The Suicide Squad, directed by James Gunn and co-starring Idris Elba, John Cena and Viola Davis. Robbie originated the role in David Ayer’s Suicide Squad in 2016, alongside Will Smith and Jared Leto, which grossed more than $745M worldwide. In 2020, Robbie played Harley Quinn in the spin-off, Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). Co-starring Ewan McGregor and Jurnee Smollett, Robbie also produced.

Also in 2021, Robbie lent her voice to the role of Flopsy in Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway, co-starring James Corden and Rose Byrne. Robbie previously voiced the role in the original film Peter Rabbit, which was released in 2018. 

In 2019, Robbie starred in Bombshell, directed by Jay Roach and written by Charles Randolph. Co-starring Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman and John Lithgow, the film follows women of Fox News who risk everything to stand up to the man (Lithgow) who made them famous. Robbie’s performance as fictional character Kayla Popsil earned her a 2020 Academy Award nomination in the category of Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, a 2020 Golden Globe nomination in the category of Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture, and a 2020 BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actress. That same year, Robbie starred in Quentin Tarantino’s Academy Award-nominated film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, opposite Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio. The film made its world premiere at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, where it received rave reviews and was nominated for the Palme d’Or. The film later went on to win a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. Robbie was also recognized for her performance as Sharon Tate with a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

In 2018, Robbie starred in Josie Rourke’s Mary Queen of Scots. She played Queen Elizabeth opposite Saoirse Ronan. Robbie received SAG and BAFTA nominations for her performance. 

Most notably, Robbie starred as Tonya Harding in I, Tonya. Robbie also served as a producer on the film under her production banner, LuckyChap Entertainment. She received an Academy Award nomination, a Golden Globe nomination, a BAFTA nomination, and a SAG nomination for her performance. The film tells the controversial story of Olympic figure skater, Tonya Harding, who infamously conspired to have her competition, Nancy Kerrigan, injured before the 1994 Winter Olympics. The film premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival.

Robbie’s breakout role came in 2013 in Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street. She stars as the female lead opposite Leonardo DiCaprio. Based on the memoir of the same name by Jordan Belfort, the film tells the story of a New York penny stockbroker (DiCaprio).

Her additional film credits include Dreamland; Terminal; Goodbye Christopher Robin; Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, opposite Tina Fey; Z for Zachariah, opposite Chris Pine; Focus, opposite Will Smith; The Legend of Tarzan; Suite Française, alongside Michelle Williams, Kristen Scott Thomas and Matthias Schoenaerts; and About Time, opposite Rachel McAdams and Domhnall Gleeson. 

On television, Robbie made her U.S. debut in the critically acclaimed ABC series Pan Am in 2011. In Australia, Robbie is most recognized for her role as Donna Freedman on the television soap opera Neighbours. Her role garnered her two Logie Award nominations for Most Popular New Female Talent and Most Popular Actress. 

Robbie has numerous film and television projects in development under her LuckyChap Entertainment banner, all of which correspond to her objective of telling stories with strong female characters. LuckyChap recently partnered with Hodson Exports to launch the Lucky Exports Pitch Program (LEPP), an initiative that has selected six female-identifying writers to participate in the program, in which they will each focus on developing their own idea for an original action feature film. Additionally, LuckyChap Entertainment received the honor of Producers of the Year by The Hollywood Reporter in 2020.

LuckyChap Entertainment’s first project to hit the big screen was the award-winning independent feature I, Tonya. The film went on to receive an Academy Award for Allison Janney, along with two nominations, including Margot Robbie, five Bafta nominations and three Golden Globe nominations.  Their film Promising Young Woman, starring Carey Mulligan, which debuted at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, marked Emerald Fennell’s directorial debut. Promising Young Woman received five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, six BAFTA nominations and four Golden Globe nominations. 

LuckyChap produced the film Boston Strangler, which stars Keira Knightley. The company currently has a first-look television deal with Amazon Studios.  LuckyChap produced the hit limited series Maid, alongside John Wells Productions, starring Margaret Qualley. It was released in October 2021 on Netflix and received a Critics Choice Awards nomination for Best Limited Series and was named one of AFI’s Top Television Programs of the Year. Maid also won a Writers Guild of America Award in the category of Adapted Long Form Series. LuckyChap also produced the hit comedy series Dollface alongside Clubhouse Pictures and ABC Signature Studios, starring Kat Dennings, and the second season was released in February 2022. LuckyChap also produced Mike, a limited series for Hulu, starring Trevante Rhodes and produced alongside Clubhouse Pictures, The Gist of It, Entertainment 360 and 20th Television. LuckyChap is producing Emerald Fennell’s upcoming film Saltburn. They also are in post-production on Megan Park’s film My Old Ass, which they produced under their new feature film first look deal with Indian Paintbrush. 

In addition to her work in front of and behind the camera, Robbie has been a CHANEL ambassador since March 2018.

Born in Australia, Robbie grew up on the Gold Coast and eventually moved to Melbourne, where she began acting professionally at the age of 17. She currently resides in Los Angeles.

 

RYAN GOSLING (Ken) landed the controversial lead role in the film “The Believer,” a career breakthrough for the actor. After his performance garnered rave reviews and industry-wide attention, the film won the Grand Jury prize at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. Gosling received Best Actor nominations from the Film Independent Spirit Awards and the London Film Critics’ Circle. 

Continuing to receive strong critical praise for taking on challenging and complex roles, Gosling received the 2007 Academy Award Nomination for Best Actor for his role in “Half Nelson” as Dan, a drug-addicted inner city junior high school teacher.  He also garnered Best Actor nominations from the Screen Actors Guild, the Broadcast Film Critics Association, the Chicago Film Critics Association, the Online Film Critics’ Society, and the Toronto Film Critics Association. Additionally, he received the Male Breakthrough Performance Award from the National Board of Review. 

The following year Gosling was honored again with both a Golden Globe and SAG Best Actor nomination for his work in “Lars and The Real Girl” and once more in 2011 for “Blue Valentine” in which he starred opposite Michelle Williams. 

In 2011 Gosling starred alongside Steve Carell and Emma Stone in the marital crisis comedy “Crazy, Stupid, Love.”  That same year he starred in “Drive” and “The Ides of March.”  Since 2015 Gosling starred alongside Christian Bale, Steve Carell and Brad Pitt in “The Big Short,” written and directed by Adam McKay and in the Shane Black directed comedy “The Nice Guys” alongside Russell Crowe.  

In 2016, Gosling starred opposite Emma Stone in “La La Land” for writer director Damien Chazelle. The film received mass attention receiving 14 Academy Award nominations including Best Film and Best Actor. The film also broke the record for most Golden Globes won by a movie including Gosling’s award for Best Actor. His outstanding performance was also recognized by the Screen Actors Guild, the Broadcast Film Critics Association, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, the AACTA Awards, and various Film Critic Associations accumulating over 20 nominations nationwide. Gosling took home the prestigious Vanguard Award at the Palm Springs International Film festival as well as Outstanding Performer of the Year Award at The Santa Barbara International Film Festival.  

In 2017, Gosling starred alongside Harrison Ford in “Blade Runner 2049” directed by Denis Villeneuve and in 2018, he starred in the Neil Armstrong biopic, “First Man” directed by Damien Chazelle.  

Gosling recently starred in Netflix’s “The Gray Man” an action thriller directed by Anthony and Joe Russo.

 

AMERICA FERRERA (Gloria) is an award-winning actor, director and producer known for her breakthrough role as Betty Suarez on ABC’s hit comedy, Ugly Betty. For her performance, Ferrera was awarded an Emmy, a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Golden Globe, as well as ALMA and Imagen Awards. 

In 2021, Ferrera ended her tenure on NBC’s beloved workplace comedy, Superstore. Ferrera executive produced, directed and starred in the series throughout its six-season run. 

Ferrera was recently seen on the Apple TV+ series WeCrashed opposite Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway. In the series, Ferrera plays Elishia Kennedy, a successful CEO and entrepreneur who is conned into leaving her own company and joining WeWork but is eventually pushed out. 

Ferrera will make her feature directorial debut with an adaptation of Erika Sánchez’s New York Times bestselling novel, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, for Netflix. Ferrera executive produced and directed episodes for Seasons 1 & 2 of Netflix’s hit Latinx Dramedy, Gentefied; the series follows three Mexican American cousins and their struggle to chase the American Dream. 

In July of 2020, Ferrera was announced as a Founding Investor of Angel City Football Club, a planned National Women’s Soccer League expansion team that began play in 2022. The team is based in Los Angeles, California. Ferrera is also an investor in the Period Company, a revolutionary and sustainable company centered around the importance of menstrual equity. 

A longtime activist, Ferrera co-founded HARNESS in 2016 with her husband, Ryan Piers Williams, and Wilmer Valderrama. HARNESS is a community of artists, influencers and grassroots leaders that provides education and engagement opportunities to amplify the organizations and individuals working on behalf of social justice. 

In 2020, Ferrera launched Poderistas alongside Eva Longoria Bastón and other Latina Leaders. Poderistas is a digital lifestyle community and non-profit built to inspire, affirm, and inform Latinas so they can leverage their power to transform their lives, their families, their community and their nation. Ferrera is also a prolific speaker having spoken at major events such as Women’s March, the DNC, March for Our Lives, etc.  She was also a chair for the Artists’ Committee for the Women’s March on Washington. Her activism has even extended on screen in several television documentaries including Not Done: Women Remaking America for PBS, the EPIX TV mini-series, America Divided, Showtime’s ground-breaking documentary, The Years of Living Dangerously, and Nicholas Kristof’s series for PBS Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. 

In 2018, Ferrera released her first book, landing on the New York Times best-seller list.  American Like Me is a vibrant and varied collection of first-person accounts from prominent figures about the experience of growing up between cultures in America.  Curated and edited by Ferrera, the anthology includes essays that share her own perspective of growing up as the daughter of Honduran immigrants in Los Angeles.  Contributors to the book include Lin-Manuel Miranda, Roxane Gay, Issa Rae, Kumail Nanjiani, Congressman Joaquin Castro, Kal Penn, Uzo Aduba, Jenny Zhang, Michelle Kwan, Padma Lakshmi and many others.  Ferrera was featured as the face of Covergirl’s Fresh Clean Skincare collection, the company’s first clean, vegan skincare line. 

Some of Ferrera’s television and film credits include Real Women Have Curves; Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (parts 1 and 2); Diego Luna’s biopic, Cesar Chavez, (ALMA Award Special achievement in Film); Ryan Piers Williams’ The Dry Land, (Best International Film Edinburgh Film Festival); Ryan Piers Williams’ drama X/Y, which she co-produced and starred in; David Ayer’s crime thriller End of Watch; Ricky Gervais’ Special Correspondents; It’s a Disaster; Lords of Dogtown; How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer, among many others. She lends her vocal talents to the Oscar-nominated franchise films How to Train Your Dragon as Astrid. 

On stage, she has appeared off-Broadway in Terrence McNally’s Lips Together, Teeth Apart; Laura Marks’ Bethany; and Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead, directed by Trip Cullman. She graced the stage as Roxie Hart in the West End production of the hit musical Chicago. 

In 2006, Ferrera founded her own television and film production company, TAKE FOUNTAIN. 

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Ferrera is the youngest of six children. As a graduate of the University of Southern California, Ferrera studied International Relations while pursuing her film and television career. She currently resides in New York City with her husband and two children. 

 

KATE McKINNON (Barbie) won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2016 and 2017 and was nominated every year from 2014 to 2021 for her work on Saturday Night Live. In addition, she earned a Critics Choice Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series in 2016.  

McKinnon’s recent roles include Jay Roach’s Bombshell opposite Margot Robbie, Danny Boyle’s Beatles-inspired musical romcom Yesterday, starring opposite Mila Kunis in the action-comedy The Spy Who Dumped Me, Paul Feig’s 2016 reboot of Ghostbusters, Rough Night opposite Scarlett Johansson, Office Christmas Party with Jason Bateman and Jennifer Aniston, and a cameo in Judd Apatow’s Netflix farce, The Bubble.  In addition, she has voiced roles in various animated projects, including Oscar-nominated Ferdinand, Pixar’s Finding Dory, and as the voice of Lulu in DC League of Super Pets, opposite Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart.  She has also voiced roles in several TV series, including The Magic School Bus Rides Again, The Simpsons and Family Guy.  She was nominated for a 2017 Daytime Emmy for her work on the PBS animated series Nature Cat and can be heard as Queen Mortuana in the Audible medieval fantasy-comedy series Heads Will Roll, which she co-created.

She was recently seen playing Carole Baskin in the Peacock limited series Joe vs Carole, based on the Wondery podcast and characters made popular on Netflix’s documentary series Tiger King.

ISSA RAE (Barbie) has her own unique flare and infectious sense of humor, which first garnered her attention via her award-winning web series and the accompanying New York Times best-seller The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl. She created and starred in the Peabody-award-winning HBO series Insecure, which garnered her multiple Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. Rae has also made her mark on the big screen, starring in The Photograph and The Lovebirds. 

In 2020 Rae formed HOORAE, a multi-faceted media company that develops content across mediums in an effort to continue to break boundaries in storytelling and representation. HOORAE is comprised of HOORAE Media for film, TV and digital; Radio, the music label, music supervision company, and ‘audio everywhere’ company; and ColorCreative, its management division. Via HOORAE’s WarnerMedia deal, Issa expanded her Executive Producer slate with the Emmy-award nominated A Black Lady Sketch Show, the fan-favorite docuseries Sweet Life, and the HBOMax series Rap Sh*t. 

Rae’s commitment to South LA is evident in both her personal and professional pursuits. After planting roots near her childhood home, Issa decided to set up the HOORAE headquarters in the heart of South LA. Her participation in the non-profit organization Destination Crenshaw furthers her mission of celebrating Black Angelenos and her ownership in Hilltop Cafe + Kitchen provides much-needed jobs and opportunities for local residents as well as a space for creatives to unlock their potential.

 

MICHAEL CERA (Allan) has appeared in the FOX series Arrested Development, and in feature films Superbad, Juno, Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Youth In Revolt, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Crystal Fairy and the Magical Cactus, This is the End, and Molly’s Game. 

Cera made his Broadway debut in Kenneth Lonergan’s This is Our Youth and also starred in Lonergan’s Lobby Hero, for which he received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play. Cera also completed the Lonergan trilogy on Broadway with a starring role in The Waverly Gallery, opposite Elaine May, Lucas Hedges and Joan Allen. 

Currently, Cera can be seen starring alongside Amy Schumer in the critically acclaimed series Life & Beth on Hulu.

 

SIMU LIU (Ken) made history as the star of the first Asian-fronted movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Destin Daniel Cretton’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which garnered him The People’s Choice Award for Favorite Action Movie Star.

For five seasons, Liu starred in the CBC/Netflix comedy series Kim’s Convenience, which won the ACTRA Awards for Outstanding Ensemble in 2017 and was also nominated for the same award in 2018. Kim’s Convenience also went on to win the award for Best Comedy Series at the 2018 Canadian Screen Awards. The first Canadian television series with an all-Asian lead cast, the series chronicles the day-to-day micro-dramas encountered by a Korean immigrant family that runs a corner grocery store.

Liu’s first major role was on the critically acclaimed OMNI crime drama Blood and Water, the first trilingual series (English, Mandarin, and Cantonese) produced by Canadian television, for which he received nominations at the ACTRA Awards and Canadian Screen Awards. Aside from his performance on screen, Liu participated in the writing room for the series by contributing to the show’s second season as a story editor and as the main writer for one episode. 

He starred alongside Mark Wahlberg in Arthur the King and appeared in the film adaptation of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s bestseller One True Loves opposite Phillipa Soo. Liu’s other film and television credits include ABC’s Fresh Off the Boat, Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens, NBC’s Taken, and Amazon’s The Expanse.

His memoir, We Are Dreamers: An Immigrant Superhero Origin Story, was published by HarperCollins in May 2022.

Born in Harbin, China, Liu immigrated to Canada at the age of five and is fluent in Mandarin. He is currently developing long-form projects under his 4:12 Entertainment banner, through which he has previously directed, produced and optioned content for film and digital. 

 

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

 

GRETA GERWIG (Director / Writer / Executive Producer) is an Academy Award-nominated director and writer who has established herself as one of Hollywood’s most important voices. Prior to writing (with Noah Baumbach) and filming Barbie, Gerwig’s last film, Little Women, starred Saoirse Ronan, Timothée Chalamet, and Florence Pugh and was nominated for six Academy Awards, five BAFTA Awards as well as PGA and WGA honors. Her debut film, Lady Bird, was nominated for five Academy Awards, including nominations for Gerwig for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. 

Gerwig is also a prolific actor, who received a Golden Globe nomination for her performance in Frances Ha, which she also co-wrote with Noah Baumbach. Last year she starred in his latest film, White Noise, opposite Adam Driver. Her additional acting credits include Jackie, Maggie’s Plan, 20th Century Women, Lola versus, Damsels in Distress and Mistress America.

 

DAVID HEYMAN (Producer) is the Academy and BAFTA Award-nominated producer of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie and Al Pacino; Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story, which starred Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson and Laura Dern; and Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity, starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.

Heyman also produced all eight film adaptations of J.K Rowling’s hugely successful Harry Potter books as well as the three Fantastic Beasts films.

Among his other film credits are the two Paul King-directed Paddington films based on Michael Bond’s universally beloved books, the first of which starred Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins Julie Walters, and featuring Nicole Kidman; the sequel, which reunited Bonneville, Hawkins and Walters and featured Hugh Grant and Brendan Gleeson; the comedies We’re the Millers, starring Jennifer Aniston and Jason Sudeikis, and Yes Man, starring Jim Carrey and Zooey Deschanel; Francis Lawrence’s science fiction thriller I Am Legend, starring Will Smith; and Mark Herman’s Holocaust drama The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, starring Vera Farmiga and David Thewlis. His most recent film to appear in theaters was Noah Baumbach’s acclaimed 2022 adaptation of Don DeLillo’s White Noise, starring Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig.

Heyman has a wide range of films upcoming, including Wonka, about the young Willy Wonka, starring Timothée Chalamet in the title role, under the direction of Paul King.

 

MARGOT ROBBIE (Producer / “Barbie”) – See ABOUT THE CAST

 

TOM ACKERLEY (Producer), after years of working as an assistant director, including on the film The two faces of January, transitioned to producing and launched LuckyChap Entertainment with the intent of telling female-driven stories and promoting new filmmakers. 

LuckyChap is in post-production on Emerald Fennell’s film Saltburn, and on Megan Park’s film My Old Ass, which will be produced under their new feature film first look deal with Indian Paintbrush. LuckyChap also produced 2023’s Boston Strangler, which stars Keira Knightley. 

LuckyChap’s feature Promising Young Woman, starring Carey Mulligan, was released on December 25th, 2020. The film, which debuted at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, marked Emerald Fennell’s directorial debut. Promising Young Woman received five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, four Golden Globe nominations, and six BAFTA nominations. Additionally, Ackerley received the Producer of the Year honor by a in 2020 (along with Margot Robbie and Josey McNamara). In 2017, LuckyChap premiered the film I, Tonya at the Toronto Film Festival, which was then acquired by Neon. The film went on to receive an Academy Award for Allison Janney’s supporting actress role, along with two additional nominations, including Margot Robbie for lead actress. 

On the television side, LuckyChap’s limited series Mike, starring Trevante Rhodes, was released on August 25th, 2022 on Hulu. Mike was produced alongside Clubhouse Pictures, The Gist of It, Entertainment 360 and 20th Television. LuckyChap recently produced the hit limited series Maid for Netflix, which was released in October 2021. The series stars Margaret Qualley and Andie MacDowell and quickly became one of Netflix’s most-watched limited series. Margaret Qualley received an Emmy nomination for her performance and Maid also received Emmy nominations for writing and directing. Additionally, Maid received a Critics Choice nomination for Best Limited Series and was named one of AFI’s Top Television Programs of the Year. In 2019, Ackerley also served as a producer on Hulu’s series Dollface, starring Kat Dennings. The show’s second season was released in February 2022.

ROBBIE BRENNER (Producer) is an Academy Award- and PGA Award-nominated producer for the 2013 film Dallas Buyers Club.  Brenner also produced the features The In Between, Call Jane, the Escape Plan films, Burden and The Tribes of Palos Verdes, and executive produced The Night Clerk, The Space Between Us, The Disappointments Room and The Best of Me.

Brenner’s upcoming titles as a producer include Masters of the Universe and Signal Hill.

 

RODRIGO PRIETO (Director of Photography) was born in Mexico City in 1965, the son of a Mexican father and an American mother from Montana. He studied at the Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica (CCC), in Mexico City, where he focused in Cinematography. He now lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Monica, and his daughters Maria Fernanda, and Ximena. 

Prieto started his career shooting Television commercials at the age of 22, moving into features with Un Instante Para Morir in 1992. He built a reputation for meticulous attention to visual and dramatic detail with such films as Sobrenatural, which garnered him Mexico’s Ariel Award in 1996 (Mexico’s Academy Award), and Carlos Carrera’s Un Embrujo (Under A Spell) which took the Concha de Plata for Best Cinematography at the San Sebastian Film Festival, in addition to another Ariel Award. 

Amores perros (2000) brought him to the attention of the world film community. His work on the feature, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, garnered Prieto several honors, including a third Ariel Award and the Golden Frog Award at the Camerimage International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography in Poland. 

His subsequent films as cinematographer have included Julie Taymor’s Frida, for which he was an ASC Award nominee; Curtis Hanson’s 8 Mile; Spike Lee’s 25th Hour; and, again for Alejandro González Iñárritu, the award-winning 21 Grams. In 2003, he went to Cuba with director Oliver Stone to shoot Comandante, a documentary on Fidel Castro. The two then went to the Middle East to film a documentary on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Persona Non Grata. Their next project together was the epic Alexander, for which Prieto was honored with the Silver Frog Award at the Camerimage International Film Festival. 

For his work on Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain, Prieto was nominated for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and an American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Award. His cinematography on the film was cited as the year’s best by the Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association, the Florida Film Critics Circle, and the Chicago Film Critics Association. 

In 2006, Prieto and Iñárritu reunited for Babel, which earned him his second consecutive BAFTA Award nomination. After this, he travelled to Hong Kong and Shanghai with Ang Lee to shoot Lust, Caution, which earned a Golden Osella award for Best Cinematography at the Venice Film Festival and was also nominated for an Independent Spirit Award in 2008. He then shot State of Play for director Kevin Macdonald, after which he went to Madrid, Spain to collaborate with director Pedro Almodóvar on Broken Embraces, starring Penélope Cruz. From there, he went to Barcelona to join forces once again with Iñárritu for Biutiful, marking their fourth film together. 

Towards the end of 2009, Prieto worked once again with Oliver Stone for Wall Street, Money Never Sleeps, after which he shifted gears to the Great Depression, collaborating with director Francis Laurence on the drama Water for Elephants. His next project was We Bought a Zoo with helmer Cameron Crowe, starring Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansen. 

In the summer of 2011 Rodrigo joined Ben Affleck to make the political thriller Argo, which went on to win the Academy award for Best Picture in 2013. Upon completing Argo, Rodrigo directed his first short film, called Likeness starring Elle Fanning, dealing with eating disorders. The short premiered in the Tribeca Film Festival and has generated intense interest online, going viral shortly after its release on Youtube in December 2013. 

Early in 2012, Director Martin Scorsese asked Prieto to shoot his film The Wolf of Wall Street with Leonardo Dicaprio. Principal photography was completed in New York in February of 2013. Immediately after that Prieto flew to Santa Fe, New Mexico to shoot The Homesman, helmed and starred by Tommy Lee Jones, with Hillary Swank. 

Prieto filmed Martin Scorsese’s highly anticipated HBO pilot Vinyl, created by Terrence Winter and co-produced by Mick Jagger. He also shot Scorsese’s next film, Silence, starring Liam Neeson, Adam Driver and Andrew Garfield which was released in 2016. Prieto shot Morten Tyldum’s space odyssey Passengers starring Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt released December 2016. 

He has been nominated for Academy Awards for Best Cinematography for both Martin Scorsese features Silence (2016) and The Irishman (2019).  Preito shot the 2020 Julie Taymor-directed film, The Glorias, and the current Martin Scorsese feature, Killers of the Flower Moon. 

SARAH GREENWOOD (Production Designer) is one of the film industry’s most revered and honored production designers, with multiple Academy Award nominations and BAFTA Award nominations and wins. She has been a regular collaborator with director Joe Wright, most recently working on Cyrano, for which she was BAFTA-nominated for Best Production Design. 

Prior to this Greenwood teamed with Wright on Darkest Hour starring Gary Oldman for which she received Academy Award, ADG Award and BAFTA Award nominations; and before this Anna Karenina for which she received an Academy Award and BAFTA nomination, and the ADG and Critics Choice Award for Best Production Design. Other feature collaborations with Wright comprise Hanna; The Soloist; Atonement for which she received an Academy Award and ADG nomination, as well as the BAFTA Award for production design. Greenwood also received an Academy Award nomination for Wright’s Pride & Prejudice.

Further notable feature credits include Ben Wheatley’s Rebecca for which Greenwood received a BAFTA nomination and Bill Condon’s Beauty and the Beast which garnered her an Academy Award, ADG, BAFTA and Critics Choice Award nominations. Greenwood has twice collaborated with director Guy Ritchie on Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and Sherlock Holmes for which she received an Academy Award nomination and the ADG Award for Best Production Design. Before this Greenwood worked with director Bharat Nalluri on Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day; Tom Vaughan on Starter for 10; Stefan Schwartz on The Abduction Club, David Kane on both Born Romantic and This Year’s Love; Sandra Goldbacher on The Governess and Robert Bierman on A Merry War.

Key television credits include Joe Wright’s mini-series The Last King for which Greenwood was BAFTA nominated, Wright’s Bodily Harm and Nature Boy; Paul Seed’s Ready When You Are Mr. McGill; Jean Stewart’s Loving You; Robert Bierman’s The Moonstone; Mike Barker’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall for which Greenwood was BAFTA nominated; Patrick Marber’s Performance: After Miss Julie; Chris Rawlence’s The King of Hearts and Peter Symes’ Black Daisies for the Bride.

 

JACQUELINE DURRAN (Costume Designer) marks Barbie as her second outing with director Greta Gerwig having previously collaborated on Little Women which garnered Durran the Academy and BAFTA Awards for Best Costume Design, as well as Chicago Film Critics Association and Critic’s Choice Award nominations. Durran had previously won the Academy Award for Best Costume for Joe Wright’s Anna Karenina.

Durran’s many other collaborations with director Joe Wright comprise most recently Cyrano for which she was nominated for an Academy Award; Darkest Hour which garnered her both Academy and BAFTA nominations; Pan; The Soloist; Atonement for which she received Academy, BAFTA, Satellite and Costume Designers Guild Award nominations, and Pride and Prejudice for which Durran also received Academy and BAFTA award nominations.

Prior to Barbie, Durran collaborated with director Matt Reeves on The Batman and prior to this directors Pablo Larrain on Spencer and Sam Mendes on 1917. She worked with Mike Leigh on Peterloo and director Garth Davis on Mary Magdalene, and before this Bill Condon on Beauty and the Beast which garnered Durran Academy, BAFTA, Costume Designers Guild Award nominations and the Saturn Award for Best Costume Design.

A frequent collaborator with director Mike Leigh, Durran had previously designed costumes for Mr Turner for which she received both the Academy and BAFTA Award nominations; Another Year, Happy-Go-Lucky and Vera Drake. Other notable credits include Justin Kurzel’s Macbeth; Richard Ayoade’s The Double; Tomas Alfredson’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; Susanna White’s Nanny McPhee Returns; Sally Potter’s Yes and David Mackenzie’s Young Adam. Durran also designed for executive producer Steve McQueen’s BBC series Small Axe for which she received the BAFTA TV Award for Costume Design.