It’s a long, long way from Crawley to Barbieland, but Todd Talbot has made it there and is now living the dream in the fabulous new Barbie movie.
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00:00 Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor for Sussex Newspapers. It's lovely
00:06 to be speaking to Todd Talbot, who was born and raised in Crawley, but far more excitingly
00:12 is in the new Barbie movie, which we saw last week. And absolutely brilliant, isn't it?
00:18 What an amazing experience he must have had.
00:21 It was absolutely incredible, to be honest. I remember first walking onto the set in Barbieland
00:27 and I was like, I couldn't quite believe I was alive. It felt like a dream. I had to
00:32 pinch myself because it was like a huge Barbie life-size set, which was just insane. The
00:39 first shot we actually shot was the beach scene. So I remember walking on set and it
00:43 was just all pink sand, blue scree. It was just incredible. Honestly, it was incredible.
00:48 And that was in Santa Monica, was it?
00:51 No, no, this was actually in Watford, at Warrnambool.
00:53 Oh, quite the same.
00:55 Yes. But everything was plastic and pink, obviously, because it was Barbieland. But
01:02 yeah, it was a pinch-me moment for sure.
01:05 And what on earth is it like to be sitting watching a film which is as brilliant as that
01:10 and thinking, that's me?
01:13 I'm very proud, to be honest, very proud indeed. Because I think when you get these jobs and
01:21 you're on a film, you don't really know the extent of how big an impact the film's going
01:26 to have. I've done a couple of films in the past that sort of don't have the same impact.
01:32 So you just never know. I don't think anyone knows how big anything's going to be until
01:36 it happens, right?
01:37 And this one, the impact has been huge, isn't it? Can you even begin to explain why it's
01:41 grabbed people in the way it has?
01:44 I think everyone just loves pink to start with. And also everyone just loves a bit of
01:50 joy. I think everyone needs some joy in their life, especially with what we've all been
01:55 through of late and with what's going on in the world. I think everyone just wants a little
02:03 bit of escapism and a bit of joy in their life. And I think this is exactly what Barbie
02:07 delivers. It's just a bit of fun. You can go there, have two hours and just forget about
02:12 all your stresses and your woes and just come out.
02:16 But as you were pointing out, it does come with a pretty important message, doesn't it?
02:21 It's not totally thrown away, is it?
02:24 Absolutely. There is a message in there which is very well hidden, but it's a very clever
02:28 message about just the fact that the reality of life, really, that it's not as shiny and
02:36 plastic as it seems on the outside. And actually, I think Barbie in the film makes a choice
02:42 that she wants to feel emotions and feel ups and downs because that's what living is all
02:46 about. It's not just all shiny perfection because actually perfection can get quite
02:53 boring quite quick.
02:54 And you're talking about making choices. You obviously made your own choices. It's a long
02:58 way from Crawley to Barbieland, isn't it? But you struggled a bit to make your way when
03:04 you're wanting to dance as a young lad.
03:06 Absolutely. Absolutely. It wasn't an easy choice for me, although I stuck with it because
03:12 I was passionate about it and I got a lot of joy. As I was just saying about finding
03:16 your joy, I got my joy from dancing as a child. It was my way of escaping the reality, I suppose.
03:24 Which you had to do in the face of bullying, didn't you?
03:27 Absolutely. And if I had listened to the bullies at school, I would have given up. And I think
03:32 a lot of people do give up because of what other people say. So had I given up, I wouldn't
03:37 be where I am today.
03:39 So this must feel like the ultimate confirmation then that your persistence was just right.
03:44 Absolutely. Don't let the bullies win, really.
03:47 Absolutely. And you're saying just how lovely everyone was on set. Will Ferrell, great fun?
03:52 Yeah, and absolutely who he was. He was exactly how you see him in films, to be honest. I
03:58 think that's why he's so successful, because he's just a very funny, genuinely funny man.
04:05 And yeah, just doing take after take. And the way it was filmed was very much, they
04:11 would do a couple of shots where it was scripted and then we'd do quite a lot of takes where
04:15 Greta, the director, would just say play.
04:19 Really?
04:20 Absolutely, yeah. So he would just come into his element and just start coming out with
04:25 the most ridiculous things that everyone was just trying their best not to corpse on camera,
04:31 which was really difficult because he was just hilarious. Absolutely hilarious.
04:36 That must make editing a monumental task, doesn't it?
04:39 Yes, yeah, I think it does. For sure. It's probably why quite a lot of our scenes are
04:44 cut short because you can see from what was filmed to what's in the cinema. Yeah, there's
04:50 quite a lot that's cut down. It's probably just because people are laughing in the background,
04:54 to be fair.
04:55 I think we could have happily sat through another hour of that, couldn't we?
04:58 I'm waiting for the outtakes to be released. I can't wait to see them.
05:02 You're making me want to go back and see it again. But you're going back for a second
05:05 time this weekend with The Hell It.
05:07 Yes, I am. I need to go and see it with all my family because I think they want to see
05:10 me.
05:11 It's going to be a very proud moment for everyone, isn't it?
05:14 I hope so, yeah.
05:15 Brilliant. Well, so lovely to speak to you. Congratulations on the achievement. And you've
05:20 got Wonka and Wicked coming up. So let's chat about those in due course. Thanks for your
05:26 time.
05:27 Thank you.
05:28 Thank you. Thank you for having me.
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