Bust out every hot pink item in your wardrobe: "Barbie," a star-studded cinematic re-imagining of the classic doll's life, is officially coming to theaters.
Margot Robbie will take on the mantle as Barbie. Based on first look photos, her Barbie will keep the classic bubblegum look, but add a wink.
With the undeniable wave of nostalgia crashing on pop culture these days, perhaps it's not a surprise that the Barbie franchise has joined the trend. But the creative team behind the movie indicates that "Barbie" will be refreshingly imaginative, and hard to predict.
The movie will be directed by Greta Gerwig ("Little Women") from a script Gerwig co-wrote with her partner Noah Baumbach. They also co-wrote the film "Frances Ha."
In an interview, Simu Liu, who was cast in "Barbie," hyped the movie up, saying his agent said it was one of the best scripts he had ever encountered. “He literally said this verbatim,” Liu toldGQ UK. “He was like, ‘If I could stake my career on any one script, it’s the ‘Barbie’ script. I really think you should do it.’”
Here's everything we know so far about the totally tubular flick that's set to hit a theater near you in July 2023.
What is the release date?
The movie arrives to theaters on July 21.
What is ‘Barbie’ movie about? The trailer shows the plot
Robbie told The Hollywood Reporter that “Barbie” will be “the thing you didn’t know you wanted.”
She also said, “Whatever you’re thinking, we’re going to give you something totally different.”
The movie’s first full trailer illuminated the plot, which shows Robbie’s Barbie leaving her world for the real one.
Ryan Gosling is a Malibu boy-band dream in newly released images as Ken
Akin to Robbie, fans already could have easily surmised possible images of what Gosling might have looked like as Ken — since the two already naturally exude Barbie and Ken energy.
With everything from the bleach, bleach blonde hair, to his Malibu-bronzed skin (and even his underwear that reps his namesake, "Ken"), we're more excited than ever to see Gosling in this iconic role.
The cast of 'Barbie' keeps growing and growing
If there's one thing we know for sure, this movie is set to have a star-studded cast, beyond Robbie playing the title role of Barbie (and producing the movie) and Ryan Gosling playing Ken.
Also joining are — take a breath! — Simu Liu, Kate McKinnon, America Ferrera, Issa Rae, Michael Cera, Jamie Demetriou, Rhea Perlman, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Emerald Fennell, Alexandra Shipp, Ariana Greenblatt, Sharon Rooney, Ana Cruz Kayne, Ritu Ary, Hari Nef and Scott Evans.
Will Ferrell was cast to play the CEO of a toy company, per the Hollywood Reporter.
Three “Sex Education” stars will be in the cast: Ncuti Gatwa, Connor Swindells, and Emma Mackey, whose resemblance to Robbie has made headlines.
Who are they playing? The posters gave a major clue away
Colorful posters released on April 4 give the characters some personality, as well as a better idea about who the dolls and humans are.
The fun images feature, naturally, Robbie and Gosling, as well as Dua Lipa, Ncuti Gatwa, Nicola Coughlan, Rae, McKinnon, Cera, Ben-Adir, Nef, Mackey, Kayne, Evans, Liu, Rooney, Fennell, Arya and Shipp as dolls.
Similar to the Barbie dolls, some characters have particular traits like being a doctor, a Supreme Court justice or the president. Others appear to be a mermaid or hold a Nobel Prize.
Helen Mirren, Connor Swindells, Ferrell, Ferrera, Greenblatt and Demetriou play humans.
Taking on a more mundane approach, most of the humans aren't assigned defining characteristics compared to the dolls. Rather, they're just named as humans, a narrator or an intern.
Amy Schumer almost played Barbie
Robbie was confirmed to play Barbie in 2019 — but the movie could have been different. Amy Schumer told The Hollywood Reporter that she initially signed on to play the titular role and co-write the script in 2017. Schumer said her vision was to write Barbie as an inventor who gets booted from Barbieland for not being up-to-par.
After four months, Schumer and the studio — which was Sony at the time — parted ways. Schumer cited creative differences. “They definitely didn’t want to do it the way I wanted to do it, theonlyway I was interested in doing it,” Schumer said.
Madeline Merinuk is a writer and newsletter editor at TODAY.com where she reports on pop culture, lifestyle and trending news. She's a graduate of Hofstra University with a B.A. in Journalism.
