Let's go behind the scenes with Barbie. For this list, we’ll be looking at the talent, production details, and inspirations behind Barbie’s live-action cinematic debut.
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00:00 What are we talking about?
00:01 The Barbie movie.
00:02 Oh yeah.
00:03 I'm excited.
00:05 Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the top 10 behind the scenes
00:10 facts about the Barbie movie.
00:11 You can go back to your regular life or you can know the truth about the universe.
00:15 For this list, we'll be looking at the talent, production details, and inspirations behind
00:20 Barbie's live action cinematic debut.
00:23 Do you, like us, think this film will win all the Oscars?
00:26 Let us know in the comments below.
00:29 Number 10.
00:30 The Barbie movies that never were.
00:32 Mattel has been pursuing a Barbie movie as far back as 2009 when they entered a deal
00:36 with Universal and Lawrence Mark, who produced Jerry Maguire and Dreamgirls.
00:41 When that film failed to materialize, Mattel took Barbie to Sony in 2014.
00:52 The script endured multiple rewrites with Oscar winner Diablo Cody attached at one point.
00:57 By late 2016, Amy Schumer was in talks to star as Barbie and help revise the script.
01:02 Amy's version of the movie was originally about Barbie getting kicked out of Barbie
01:06 land for not being perfect enough.
01:09 Amy also claimed that her Barbie was written as an ambitious inventor, but Sony reportedly
01:14 wanted that invention to be a high-heeled shoe made out of Jell-O.
01:19 Schumer dropped out due to scheduling conflicts and creative differences.
01:23 Ben Hathaway was eyed for the role, but Sony's option on the film ultimately expired.
01:27 The project landed at Warner Brothers, where Patty Jenkins was rumored as a possible director.
01:33 In the end, WB enlisted a surprising talent to bring Barbie to life.
01:47 Number 9.
01:48 An auteur creative team.
01:50 Striking out as an actress and writer, Greta Gerwig made her solo directorial debut with
01:55 the Oscar-nominated Lady Bird.
01:57 She followed up that teen dramedy with 2019's Little Women, an adaptation that made us feel
02:02 like we were experiencing the classic source material for the first time.
02:11 Gerwig has kept us guessing with each new project, but few expected her to helm a Barbie
02:16 movie next.
02:17 She was initially brought on as a co-writer with her partner Noah Baumbach, who Gerwig
02:21 collaborated with on films like Greenberg and Frances Ha.
02:38 With the script written during the pandemic, it was later announced that Gerwig would also
02:42 direct.
02:43 Coming in, Gerwig admitted to having some insecurities about the project, but decided
02:47 to tackle it all the same.
03:05 Number 8.
03:06 Brought to you by Mattel Films.
03:08 Mattel is a toy manufacturer first and foremost, but the company is no stranger to feature
03:13 film.
03:14 Mattel Productions had a hand in a few 70s pictures, like the Oscar-nominated Sounder.
03:22 Mattel is primarily associated with direct-to-video releases, many starring an animated Barbie.
03:28 This live-action film marks the first release under the Mattel Films division, which Dallas
03:32 Buyers Club producer Robbie Brenner was hired to oversee in 2018.
03:39 Mattel CEO Yinon Kryz has called Barbie a catalyst for more films based on the company's
03:43 properties.
03:44 Looking forward, Mattel Films already has a live-action Masters of the Universe movie
03:49 slated for 2024.
03:51 Films about Hot Wheels, Magic 8-Ball, Barney, and more are on the table as well.
03:56 Barbie has always been a trendsetter.
03:59 Number 7.
04:01 Margot Robbie Addresses Baggage.
04:03 Anyone who dreamcasted Margot Robbie as Barbie got their wish in July 2019 when she was confirmed
04:08 for the role.
04:09 Considering that Robbie has played figures like Tonya Harding and Queen Elizabeth I,
04:14 Barbie might seem like a light-hearted detour.
04:17 As Robbie mentioned in an interview, though, Barbie quote "comes with a lot of baggage"
04:21 and a lot of nostalgic connections.
04:31 Having been in the zeitgeist for more than 60 years, Barbie is a much more challenging
04:35 character to tackle than some might realize.
04:38 At the same time, the character's lengthy history provides a lot of exciting ways to
04:42 approach her.
04:51 Robbie acknowledged that people might expect one thing when they hear Barbie, but she promises
04:56 quote "something totally different, the thing you didn't know you wanted."
05:07 Number 6.
05:08 A Stacked Cast of Barbies, Kens, and More.
05:12 Margot Robbie is Barbie, but she isn't the only Barbie.
05:20 Robbie reunites with her Bombshell co-star Kate McKinnon as "Weird Barbie."
05:24 There's a Barbie for virtually every profession, from Issa Rae's President Barbie to Alexandra
05:29 Shipp's Writer Barbie to Sharon Rooney's Lawyer Barbie.
05:33 Fine Gosling's Ken will clash with his athletic counterparts, including one played by Simu
05:38 Liu and another played by John Cena.
05:46 This world isn't purely comprised of Barbies and Kens.
05:49 Michael Cera is Ken's "buddy" Alan, and Emerald Fennell stars as a pregnant version
05:54 of Barbie's forgotten bestie, Midge.
05:56 The names keep coming with America Ferreira as a Mattel employee, Will Ferrell as the
06:01 CEO, and Helen Mirren narrating.
06:04 This movie has just about everybody other than Gal Gadot, who wasn't available.
06:16 Number 5.
06:17 Why Ryan Gosling Agreed to Play Ken.
06:20 Ryan Gosling broke the internet with the first look at his denim-laced Ken.
06:24 Gosling described the Barbie script as the best he'd ever read, but it was fate that
06:28 convinced him to take the role.
06:38 Not long after he was offered the part, Gosling ventured into his backyard.
06:42 Next to a squashed lemon was one of his daughter's Ken dolls, face down in the mud.
06:47 In the abandoned doll, Gosling saw a discarded soul whose story needed to be shared with
06:52 the world.
07:05 Texting a photo of the forsaken plaything to Greta Gerwig, Gosling told her that he
07:09 would be her Ken.
07:10 Oh, and to those who think he's too old for the role, Gosling is calling out your
07:14 hypocrisy for suddenly caring about Ken.
07:25 Number 4.
07:26 The Oscar-winning and Oscar-nominated talent.
07:29 As impressive as the cast is, the behind-the-scenes talent is just as gifted.
07:34 We're not just talking about the director and writers, but the artisans who made Barbie's
07:38 world a reality.
07:47 The film was shot by Rodrigo Prieto, who has earned three Oscar nominations for his cinematography
07:52 on Brokeback Mountain, Silence, and The Irishman.
07:56 Production designer Sarah Greenwood is a six-time Oscar nominee.
07:59 Her credits include The Live Action Beauty and the Beast and several Joe Wright pictures.
08:04 Film designer Jacqueline Duren has two Oscars for Wright's Anna Karenina and Gerwig's
08:08 Little Women.
08:09 "You have to keep my dress."
08:10 "I can't keep your dress."
08:11 "You have to!"
08:12 "No."
08:13 Alexandre Desplat nearly composed the score, but duties ultimately fell to Mark Ronson
08:18 and Andrew Wyatt, two of the co-writers on the Oscar-winning Shallow.
08:30 One might be early, but, for your consideration, Barbie.
08:37 The Barbie soundtrack is sure to be a must-buy with contributions from Lizzo and Dua Lipa.
08:42 Gosling even gets a song entitled "I'm Just Ken."
08:45 However, fans were disappointed when it was announced that Aqua's Barbie Girl wouldn't
08:50 be featured in the film.
08:51 It's been theorized that this is due to the legal battle between Mattel and MCA Records.
08:56 Although Mattel argued that the song committed copyright infringement, Barbie Girl was protected
09:01 under parody.
09:02 "I'm everywhere.
09:03 Imagination.
09:04 Life is your creation."
09:05 A 2009 Mattel advertisement would ironically use a modified version of the song, but the
09:13 1997 Danish hit will nonetheless be absent from Barbie's cinematic debut.
09:18 Thankfully, Aqua is collaborating with Ice Spice and Nicki Minaj on a remake of the song
09:23 entitled "Barbie World," which will be in the picture.
09:33 Number 2.
09:34 Creative Inspirations Gerwig and Baumbach were given something that
09:37 artists rarely have when writing for a billion-dollar IP, full creative control.
09:42 "It's not the direction that I would have taken for the Barbie movie, but I trust Greta
09:46 Gerwig's vision on this."
09:48 With this freedom, their inspiration expanded beyond Mattel's doll.
09:51 The script is just as much an adaptation of Mary Piper's reviving Ophelia, which explored
09:57 societal pressures that adolescent American girls face and the psychological effects.
10:02 "You don't understand, okay?
10:03 It was my fault!"
10:04 "You get that thought out of your head."
10:08 Barbie was referenced multiple times in that 1994 non-fiction book, with then-16-year-old
10:12 Prudence saying, quote, "I refuse to play the designer clothes game.
10:16 I'm not a Barbie doll."
10:17 Visually, Gerwig drew inspiration from soundstage Technicolor musicals, most notably The Red
10:23 Shoes and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.
10:25 Gerwig even came up with a special name for the film's color template, Techni-Barbie.
10:31 Adaptation-wise, the franchise has come a long way since Barbie and the Nutcracker.
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10:56 Number 1.
10:57 The Abstract Poem That Landed Greta Gerwig The Gig
11:00 The Apostles' Creed served as another inspiration for Gerwig.
11:03 The director compared the Christian creed to an abstract poem that she wrote for the
11:07 film treatment.
11:08 How abstract?
11:10 According to Margot Robbie, "super abstract."
11:13 While the poem itself has yet to be made public, the idea of creation was on Gerwig's mind
11:18 while writing.
11:23 In a Vogue interview, Gerwig said, "Barbie was invented first, Ken was invented after
11:29 Barbie, to burnish Barbie's position in our eyes and in the world."
11:33 That kind of creation myth is the opposite of the creation myth in Genesis.
11:37 Gerwig was raised Unitarian Universalist, attending an all-girls Catholic school.
11:41 This shined through in Lady Bird, and Gerwig's upbringing seemingly played a key role in
11:46 the conception of Barbie as well.
11:55 Do you agree with our picks?
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