Barbie Director Greta Gerwig Explains Why Movie Doesn’t Feature Pop Culture Barbies (Exclusive)

Barbie is hitting theaters next week, and it will see Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling taking on the roles of Barbie and Ken, but they’re not the only actors to play the iconic dolls. The Greta Gerwig-directed film features a star-studded cast of actors playing various Barbies and Kens ranging from Issa Rae as President Barbie to Kate McKinnon as Weird Barbie with many more in-between. In the vast world of Barbies, Mattel has made many pop culture-themed dolls throughout the years. There are collectible Barbies from Disney, Star Trek, and so much more. However, you won’t spot any of the movie-themed and television-themed Barbies in the new film. Recently, ComicBook.com had the chance to chat with Gerwig about the movie, and she explained why those versions of the doll are left out of the story. 

“I definitely looked at a lot of, there were the pop culture versions, and then there was also just other toys that Mattel has because they have a bunch of different toys. They have Hot Wheels and they have Barney, and they have all these different things. But it ultimately felt like we wanted to stay within the realm of the things that are only self-referential to Barbie, if that makes sense,” Gerwig explained. “Except for Proust Barbie.”

Greta Gerwig on Capturing All Sides of Barbie:

While talking to ComicBook.com, Gerwig also explained the importance of telling the positive and negative sides of Barbie. 

“I think it’s just that, stepping into this sort of thorniness and the complications of it and not wallpapering over anything that felt yucky, that we wanted to create the story out of what felt like things that you couldn’t say,” Gerwig told ComicBook.com’s Jamie Jirak. “We wanted to say it and see where that led us. I think that that was at the heart of it. Then, also, just how do you capture the joy and the excitement of being a little girl looking at that stuff and just loving it and the hair and the sparkles and all the things? there’s a real sense memory of that. Then also being able to look at it as a grown woman and being like, ‘I see it all differently now,’ and being able to honor both of them. That was kind of a trick of the movie.”

What Is Barbie About?

In Barbie, to live in Barbie Land is to be a perfect being in a perfect place. Unless you have a full-on existential crisis. Or you’re a Ken. From Oscar-nominated writer/director Greta Gerwig comes Barbie, which hits theaters on July 21st. Barbie stars Oscar-nominees Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken, alongside America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Michael Cera, Ariana Greenblatt, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman, and Will Ferrell. The film also stars Ana Cruz Kayne, Emma Mackey, Hari Nef, Alexandra Shipp, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Simu Liu, Ncuti Gatwa, Scott Evans, Jamie Demetriou, Connor Swindells, Sharon Rooney, Nicola Coughlan, Ritu Arya, Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Dua Lipa and Oscar-winner Helen Mirren. Gerwig directed Barbie from a screenplay by Gerwig & Oscar nominee Noah Baumbach, based on Barbie by Mattel.