Margot Robbie says Barbie movie won’t be what we’re expecting

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Margot Robbie's blond-bombshell good looks made her a perfect candidate to take on the titular role in a live-action Barbie movie. The actress will star in and produce the film and while it would be easy to fall back on the shallow aspects of exploring this particular character, Robbie reveals that she will not be playing a typical "Barbie girl" and her plan is to subvert the expectations of what a Barbie film would actually be about.

"Something like Barbie where the IP, the name itself, people immediately have an idea of, "Oh, Margot is playing Barbie, I know what that is," but our goal is to be like, "Whatever you're thinking, we're going to give you something totally different – the thing you didn't know you wanted."

It should come as no surprise that the live-action take on Barbie might not be totally what we're expecting. The film is written by Lady Bird's Greta Gerwig and Marriage Story's Noah Baumbach. Their pedigree alone pretty much guarantees that the story will be smart and may even poke fun at some of the stereotypes that come along with the popular IP. Robbie's production partner on the Barbie film, Josey McNamara, went on to explain why it was important to get these two behind the script to further subvert expectations:

"And then Barbie, which is kind of our Everest. As Margot said, you think you know what that movie is with Margot as Barbie, but Greta and Noah have subverted it, and we can't wait to get into that one."

Before Margot Robbie took over the project, Amy Schumer was in talks to appear as Barbie in a film where the toy comes out of her plastic world and into the real one and discovers she is not as perfect as she imagined. It appears that take was also planning on subverting expectations but the project was ultimately shelved over scheduling conflicts with Schumer. Robbie eventually came in and took over the project via her production studio LuckyChap. Robbie is aware that there is a built-in fanbase that has certain expectations but she also hopes to create a conversation:

"Now, can we truly honor the IP and the fan base and also surprise people? Because if we can do all that and provoke a thoughtful conversation, then we're really firing on all cylinders."

 What do YOU think of Robbie's planned take on the Barbie live-action film?