The live-action Barbie movie is set to arrive this summer, and every new detail about the film has only made fans more eager. The blockbuster not only boasts a star-studded ensemble cast, but a surreal approach to the landscape of Barbieland — and apparently, that was rooted in some unique inspiration. In a new interview with Vogue, Barbie director and co-writer Greta Gerwig revealed that the film looked to Old Hollywood musicals like 1948’s The Red Shoes and 1964’s The Umbrellas of Cherbourg for visual inspiration. The interview also reveals that Barbie‘s director of photography, Rodrigo Prieto, created a special color palette that Gerwig named “Techni-Barbie,” further hinting at the film’s surreal technicolor influence.
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“They have such a high level of what we came to call authentic artificiality,” Gerwig said in Vogue. “You have a painted sky in a soundstage. Which is an illusion, but it’s also really there. The painted backdrop is really there. The tangibility of the artifice is something that we kept going back to.”
Who is the cast and crew of the Barbie movie?
In Barbie, after being expelled from Barbieland for being a less-than-perfect doll, Barbie sets off to the real world to find true happiness.
Barbie will star Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken, as well as Issa Rae as President Barbie, Alexandra Shipp as Writer Barbie, Emma Mackey as Physicist Barbie, Ana Cruz Kayne as Judge Barbie, Ritu Arya as Journalist Barbie, Nicola Coughlan as Diplomat Barbie, Dua Lipa as Mermaid Barbie, Kate McKinnon as Gymnast Barbie, Hari Nef as Doctor Barbie, Sharon Rooney as Lawyer Barbie. Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Ncuti Gatwa, and Scott Evans will all play different versions of Ken, with Emerald Fennell as Midge, Michael Cera as Allan. Will Ferrell, Helen Mirren, Jamie Demetriou, Connor Swindells, America Ferrera, Arana Greenblatt, Rhea Perlman, John Cena, and Marisa Abela have all been cast in currently-unknown roles.
Barbie will be directed by Gerwig, with a script from Gerwig and Noah Baumbach. Robbie, who had been rumored to be attached to the project since 2018, will also be producing the project through her LuckyChap banner.
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Barbie will be released exclusively in theaters on July 21st.
