Barbie: Greta Gerwig’s Ambitious Film, Starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling–July 21, 2023

During a conversation with singer Dua Lipa on the At Your Service podcast, Gerwig reflected on deciding to work on the script with Noah Baumbach before taking on directorial duties.

The Warner Bros. film hits theaters July 21, 2023.

The Little Women filmmaker explained that she had been wanting to work with Margot Robbie, who had secured rights to the popular Mattel toy line.

“It was something that was exciting because it was terrifying,” Gerwig said about working on Barbie. “I think that was a big part of it, like: ‘Oh, no, Barbie.’”

“It felt like vertigo, starting to write it, like: ‘Where do you even begin, and what would be the story?’ And I think it was that feeling I had was knowing that it would be really interesting terror. Usually that’s where the best stuff is, where you’re like, ‘I am terrified of that.’ Anything where you’re like, ‘This could be a career-ender’ — then you’re like, ‘I should probably do it.’”

The script had been in development for years, with Amy Schumer and Anne Hathaway previously circling the title role.

Gerwig’s film stars Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken.

The supporting cast includes America Ferrera, Simu Liu, Kate McKinnon, Ariana Greenblatt, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Mackey, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Issa Rae, Michael Cera, Rhea Perlman and Will Ferrell.

Robbie previously had said that the film’s team is looking forward to catching audiences by surprise. “Something like Barbie where the IP, the name itself, people immediately have an idea of, ‘Oh, Margot is playing Barbie, I know what that is,’ but our goal is to be like, ‘Whatever you’re thinking, we’re going to give you something totally different — the thing you didn’t know you wanted,’” the star said.