Between dressing up like Sharon Tate for Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood to getting her Harley Quinn crazy on again for DC’s Birds of Prey movie, Margot Robbie is a pretty busy person these days.
And now she’s about to get even busier because she’s apparently in talks to star in the upcoming live-action adaptation of Barbie, which will be based on those immensely popular dolls you’ve encountered at least once in your childhood.
According to Variety, Robbie is set to produce and star in the doll movie. While her exact role hasn’t been confirmed, I have a hunch that she’s gonna be the titular character because, well, who else is she gonna play in that movie?
The Barbie has been in something akin to development hell for a couple of years now. First Amy Schumer was cast as the character but dropped out due to “scheduling conflicts”, and then there was talk that Anne Hathaway would star in it but that also fell through, presumably because being in a movie about a doll is a little too highbrow for an Oscar winner.
It also isn’t known whether the original script written for Barbie will still be used. Variety reports that first script was penned when Schumer was still attached and had more of an “adult comedy tone”.
We probably won’t hear or see anything about this Barbie movie for a couple of years at least, but I’m not particularly confident that it will be good. Hell, I don’t think it will even reach the “so bad it’s good” bar like The Room.
If movie history has taught us anything, it’s that quality live-action adaptations are more hit and miss than getting a blind person to hit a bullseye at a shooting range. And seeing as how Barbie had already peaked as a character in the Toy Story movies, I can’t see how this project is gonna top that.
But hey, if the movie ends up sucking, at least they got the casting completely spot on. I mean, Robbie is kinda like a real-life walking doll in that she’s simply too lovely and perfect to be real, which makes her perfect as Barbie. At the bare minimum, she’s definitely a better choice than Amy Schumer.
If the producers can get Armie Hammer as Ken, there may be hope for the Barbie movie yet.