“Nobody cares”: ‘Barbie’ Fails to Slay Hard as Former Writer Blasts Studio into Forcing Them to Add a “girl-boss feminist twist” in $100M Film

Barbie starring Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie is one of the highly anticipated projects that will soon hit the theatres. As the date comes near, fans are intrigued by every trivial detail related to the project. Recently, a former writer has spoken about her experience when she was associated with the project.

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Before Warner Bros acquired the film rights to the character, Sony Pictures was the one developing the film. However, their efforts didn’t seem to take off with screenwriter, Diablo Cody blasting the studio for forcing her into the concept they envisioned for the film.

Diablo Cody Called Out Sony for Not Giving Creative Freedom in Writing Barbie

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Diablo Cody was originally hired to write a screenplay for Sony’s Barbie which was to be led by Amy Schumer. For the unversed, the former is the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Juno, which meant that the screenplay could have been a great piece. But, she left midway and never submitted the film’s script. Addressed the same, she told GQ, 

“I think I know why I sh-t the bed: When I was first hired for this, I don’t think the culture had not embraced the femme or the bimbo as valid feminist archetypes yet.”

She continued,

“If you look up ‘Barbie’ on TikTok you’ll find this wonderful subculture that celebrates the feminine, but in 2014, taking this skinny blonde white doll and making her into a heroine was a tall order.”

She further added,

“I didn’t really have the freedom then to write something that was faithful to the iconography; they wanted a girl-boss feminist twist on Barbie, and I couldn’t figure it out because that’s not what Barbie is.”

Due to extreme studio pressure, the writer left the project in 2018 with Schumer leaving one year earlier. She further expressed that other animated projects put further pressure on her regarding the project.

Diablo Cody Talked About Facing ‘Roadblock’ While Developing Barbie Script

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Cody further shared how WB’s The Lego Movie put pressure on her since the film was a critically acclaimed commercial hit.

“I heard endless references to ‘The Lego Movie’ in development, and it created a problem for me because they had done it so well.”

She continued,

“Any time I came up with something meta, it was too much like what they had done. It was a roadblock for me, but now enough time has passed that they can just cast [‘The Lego Movie’ actor] Will Ferrell as the antagonist in a real-life ‘Barbie’ movie and nobody cares.”

While she took responsibility for the failures she attempted in Sony’s project, she is excited to see Greta Gerwig’s film. Margot Robbie is starring in the titular role with Ryan Gosling playing Ken in the upcoming film.

Source: GQ