A live-action film based on the famous Barbie doll has been in the works for years, and to get a sense of the wildly diverging approaches all you need to do is look at the attached stars. The project had Amy Schumer on board for a while, ugly Internet trolls hated the casting, and she dropped out in 2017 over scheduling. She was followed a few months later by Anne Hathaway, and Sony just couldn’t get it off the ground before Mattel reclaimed the rights. Now they’ve taken the film over to Warner Bros., who think Margot Robbie will be a perfect fit.
Robbie is in talks to star in and produce the Barbie movie, and this makes obvious sense. She’s arguably been the studio’s top star since her Harley Quinn was the breakout character in Suicide Squad, and she’ll be reprising that role soon in Birds of Prey. So continuing that partnership, and adding a brand like Barbie, could be long-running and very lucrative. Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins has been circling the project in some capacity, as well, but who knows where that will go? Still, the potential must have Warner Bros. very excited.
Next up for Robbie is a role as Sharon Tate in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. [THR]
