Put down your hamburger phones because the news we have for you today is going to make you want to punch that Bleeker kid in the wiener. In a somewhat, okay…very, unexpected move, Sony Pictures has just hired Diablo Cody to write a new draft of BARBIE. The studio has been working on getting the live-action film off the ground for a while now and obviously they feel like they need to shake things up a bit in order to get the film moving.
Producer Walter Parkes had this to say about Diablo Cody joining the project.
“Diablo’s unconventionality is just what Barbie needs, it signals we’re going for a legitimately contemporary tone. We’re bringing her on because she had great ideas, but even more importantly, she truly loves Barbie.”
The producers have apparently been very influenced by THE LEGO MOVIE and would like for BARBIE to have a similar sense of fun. I’m sure LEGO’s box-office wasn’t a factor in that decision at all. That said, a tongue in cheek self-referential tone could be just what the movie needs for it to appeal to all audiences.
Seeing as this will be a live-action movie, I can’t imagine who they’ll get to play the title character as living women don’t really fit into Barbie’s measurements. It seems much better suited for the world of animation, but perhaps they feel as though that's already been done due to Barbie's appearence in TOY STORY 3 as well their own animated Barbie cartoons.
Cody is most well known for her screenwriting work on JUNO, JENNIFER’S BODY, and YOUNG ADULT, but she also recently made her directorial debut with PARADISE, based on her own screenplay. Her writing style is definitely one that you either love or hate; of course it doesn’t help that JUNO’s dialogue was constantly over-used throughout 2007, but I think people who wrote her off because of that made a mistake. She's got a good ear for catchy dialogue and her work has greatly matured since JUNO. God help me…but I'm actually curious how this BARBIE film turns out now.