Margot Robbie has made history as the Barbie movie represents the first time the toy has been rendered as a live-action movie and the teaser trailer and images didn’t let us down; offering a first look at Margot Robbie taking on the role of Mattel’s iconic fashion doll.
As seen in the video above, the brief teaser that has us wanting more as a it showed Margot Robbie as both the first Barbie, winking at a group of girls, and as a glossier newer version of the toy.
In a nod to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, a group of young girls are playing with dolls in a barren, desert landscape, as a voiceover reads, “From the beginning of time, since the first little girl existed, there have been dolls.”
Richard Strauss’ song “Also Sprach Zarathustra” then kicks in, giving a full, hilarious nod to the iconic 1968 film.
“But the dolls have always and forever baby dolls, until…” the voiceover trails off.
The girls stare up at the sun, and instead of Kubrick’s black monolith, a larger-than-life, plastic and fantastic Barbie appears. Robbie pulls down her shades, gives a smile and a wink, and one of the girls chucks her now-useless baby doll far, far away. The trailer cuts to a dance tune and offers brief views of Barbie looking out and waving to Barbieland, and the iconic doll dancing with friends on a dance floor.
Issa Rae, who plays another Barbie, is also seen sporting a pink jumpsuit and jumping up and down. The trailer also shows two bronzed and beautiful Ken dolls, Ryan Gosling and Simu Liu, dancing and appearing to play sports with friends.
Set in an epic world where Barbie broke the tradition of girls playing with baby dolls, the film is directed by Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird) from a script by Gerwig and Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story, White Noise) and has a supporting cast that includes Gosling, Liu, America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Ariana Greenblatt, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Mackey, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Issa Rae, Michael Cera, Rhea Perlman and Will Ferrell.
Barbie has been in development for eight years and underwent numerous changes. Amy Schumer was originally attached to star in and co-write the film when it was set up at Sony Pictures but exited over creative differences. Anne Hathaway briefly boarded the project as its star before it moved over to Warner Bros., where Robbie became attached to star. Originally, Gerwig and Baumbach were just writing the screenplay, but Gerwig eventually decided she wanted to direct the film as well. On the directing front, everyone from Alethea Jones (HBO Max’s Made for Love) and Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman 1984) were reportedly in the mix along the way.
Robbie previously told The Hollywood Reporter she hopes Barbie subvert expectations.
“We like the things that feel a little left of center. 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’…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.”
Liu hailed the film as “wild” and “unique” in an interview with GQ UK, adding he knew almost nothing about the film when he agreed to audition.
During a call with Liu’s entire team, a junior agent then described the script as one of the best he’s ever read. “He literally said this verbatim,” Liu told GQ UK. “He was like, ‘If I could stake my career on any one script, it’s the ‘Barbie’ script. I really think you should do it.'”
While the plot of the movie is still under wraps, Robbie told The Hollywood Reporter that “Barbie” will be “the thing you didn’t know you wanted.”
She added, “Whatever you’re thinking, we’re going to give you something totally different.”
Fans spotted Robbie and Gosling rollerblading in matching neon costumes around Venice Beach, California, in June, will have to wait until next summer to see the movie and numerous Barbie accurate costumes for themselves.
Oscar-nominated “Lady Bird” and “Little Women” filmmaker Greta Gerwig co-wrote the script for the film alongside Noah Baumbach and directs, with Ryan Gosling filling the all-important role of Ken.
Robbie is also serving as a producer through her LuckyChap banner alongside David Heyman, and Gerwig is working for the first time with Oscar-nominated cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto (“The Irishman”) and reuniting with her Oscar-winning “Little Women” composer Alexandre Desplat.
This is Gerwig’s third solo directorial effort and her next after 2019’s “Little Women,” for which she was nominated for an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Barbie opens in theaters on July 21, 2023.
