Greta Gerwig’s Barbie World Keeps Getting Bigger

Greta Gerwig’s Barbie World Keeps Getting Bigger,Margot Robbie leads the trailer for the ‘Barbie’ movie directed by Greta Gerwig. Character posters were revealed on Twitter. The film features Ryan Gosling as Ken, Will Ferrell, Simu Liu, Issa Rae, Michael Cera, Dua Lipa, and more, out July 21.

Greta Gerwig’s Barbie World Keeps Getting Bigger

Welcome to Barbie’s Dream House. Did we mention it was a fever dream? Making a Barbie movie is one thing, but making a Barbie movie directed by indie darling Greta Gerwig of Lady Bird and Little Women fame is a completely different beast. Set to release July 21, 2023 — the hype is building with each new plot detail, poster, and unearthed Letterboxd account we get. The film has even been snatching up Hollywood celebs in its manicured plastic fists to the point where it’s getting harder and harder to keep track. Below, all the casting, trailer, and release date information we know about Barbie so far. C’mon, jump in.

Can I get the Barbie basics?

First, we know Gerwig and her husband, Marriage Story writer Noah Baumbach, are writing the screenplay and Gerwig is directing. Margot Robbie took on the starring role of the Mattel doll after Amy Schumer dropped out over creative differences, and Ryan Gosling will play Ken. Photos of both the stars have been released, and if neither of them makes your heart flutter, you’re boring!

What we do know is what it won’t be about. Schumer left the project because she very specifically wanted Barbie to be an “ambitious inventor.” She dropped out before Gerwig and Baumbach came onto the project but after the studio asked her if Barbie’s invention could be a “high heel made out of Jell-O.” That was absolutely sexist but sounds fun to try on.

Before being produced by Warner Bros, the film was originally going to be produced by Sony and had “a fish-out-of-water story a la Splash and Big, whereby Barbie gets kicked out of Barbieland because she’s not perfect enough, a bit eccentric and doesn’t fit in,” Deadline reported. In the original plot, “She then goes on an adventure in the real world and by the time she returns to Barbieland to save it, she has gained the realization that perfection comes on the inside, not the outside, and that the key to happiness is belief in oneself, free of the obligation to adhere to some unattainable standard of perfection.” It’s unclear if that is the plot of Gerwig and Baumbach’s version of the script, but it’s safe to assume these icons of mumblecore are going to weird it up somehow. Star Issa Rae dropped another clue that the film was a little … high concept. “She was explaining the Barbie script to me. She was like, ‘I just need to explain what it is,’” Rae teased in a December 7 story. “And I’ll be 100 percent honest, when she was talking, like, it was entertaining, but I didn’t get it. I was like, ‘I don’t know what the fuck she was talking about, but whatever it is, I’m excited she’s behind it.’ And then reading it was, like, ‘Oh my God, I love her even more.’” A Barbie movie that confuses Issa Rae? Oh, we’re so in.

What is going on in the trailer?

Let’s start off with a customary “Hi, Barbie!” The greetings in Barbie Land go back and forth for so long, they take up most of the latest teaser, out April 4. Barbie Land, much like the utopia in Don’t Worry Darling, is bright, pristine, and – much like in Don’t Worry Darling, our blonde heroine wants to get the heck outta there, driving her Corvette straight out of town and into the “Real World.” But what’s so bad about life in plastic? Everything’s pink, her boyfriend is obsessed with her, and she has absolutely no cares, obligations, or worries. Huh, well, when you put it that way … Still sounds like fun and games to us. Sit back, kick off your pink pumps but don’t you dare unflex those feet, and watch Barbie come to life.

Avatar: The Way of Water audiences were treated to a teaser trailer entering a fantastical world entirely separate from Pandora — Barbie Land. On December 16, Warner Bros. released the teaser for the upcoming film, which is still a bit low on plot. The teaser, above, is a reference to the ape scene from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, giving more credence to the whole “Barbie is going highbrow” theory. Featured in the teaser are short clips of the rest of Barbie’s world — including some recognizable faces.

Who is in the cast and what are they up to?

Every actor you’ve heard of in the past five years is either in this movie or in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. They’re all Barbies, duh! Or a lot of them are, anyway. The ones who are Barbies are Barbies of high repute. The rest of the cast will play humans and other, lesser dolls, like Kens. Also, Helen Mirren is the narrator. Barbie movie socials are going all out with inpidual character posters introducing the massive ensemble.

Meet our Barbies and Kens ✨#BarbieTheMovie pic.twitter.com/KO2pwszXNJ