2023-07-17 12:38:59
It seemed too surreal, a movie about Barbie, in 2023, directed by Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird e lovely women). The account did not close. The protagonists were announced, Margot Robbie (of course!) and Ryan Gosling (of course too), after all, there was no better duo for embody the world’s most beloved doll and her faithful… Hm, just Ken. Paparazzi photos of the production went viral on social media, a teaser referring to the classic 2001by Stanley Kubrick, brought more mystery, and the disclosure of the complete cast, which ranges from Issa Rae (Insecure) to Emma Mackey and Ncuti Gatwa (both Sex Education), confirmed: Barbie is the most anticipated film of the year.
The story in the trailer, months later, put our foot down, and the protagonist’s too. Feeling a failure in the perfect life of Barbie Land, she decides to travel to the real world and understand what’s going on there, then come back mature and on tiptoe – can she make it? This is for the experience in theaters, on the 20th of this month.
What we went to investigate, which is also part of the uproar surrounding the feature film, is the look. Anyone who played Barbie as a child knows the richness of details in the toys, the amount of clothes available, the shoes that fit perfectly… Such a vast and complex universe, with 70 years of history, aesthetic changes and social inclusion: full plate for the film’s art team, led by the production designer Sarah Greenwood.
She, who specializes in period films and has been nominated for an Oscar four times, including for her work on Pride and Prejudice (2005), did not hesitate to accept the proposal after reading the script, written by Greta alongside fellow filmmaker Noah Baumbach.
“I approached the story through Jacqueline Durran, a costume designer who has worked with me for a long time. She did lovely women and was scheduled for this project. I was intrigued by the idea. When I read the script, I thought: ‘this is incredible!’”, she comments in an exclusive interview with CLAUDIA. “I mean, it’s funny and dark and crazy, but equally charming. And also a very feminist and current work, without losing the magic of a tribute to Barbie. It’s brilliant.”
As an ideator and builder of worlds, the production designer had no choice but to rise to the challenge. The initial conversations with the director, costume designer, set decorator (Katie Spencer) and makeup artist (Ivana Primorac) were intense. “We had long philosophical exchanges about Barbie, where she came from, how she evolved over time, who this figure is today. But the idea was never to make it an anthropological study of the iconic doll or recreate Mattel, it was about simplifying this context to make sense with the script proposal”, he points out.
With that in mind, Sarah Greenwood explains some interesting points to pay attention to. Does she remember when you played with dolls and she went from one place to another? It is very difficult to travel step by step, it simply descends from the top floor of the house to the ground floor. In the movie, the same thing — there’s a scene like that in the trailer, by the way.
“We bought the latest model from Dreamhouse, and when we put the dolls inside, they touch the ceiling, they don’t fit properly in the car. We translate in scenarios and objects, considering, of course, that the actors are human, therefore, they need a certain comfort to record the scenes”, he says. Therefore, the sizes were reduced by 23%, to give that feeling (too much, right?).
The meticulous result came from a long journey of research, which involved everything from accessing collections to immersive reading of books about the doll. Again, not with the intention of copying anything, but localizing the narrative. “It’s Malibu, but not the one we know. It has a cinema, cafes, beaches and vibrant tree-lined streets. In contrast to Los Angeles [vida real]more gray and dirty (laughter).”
of having a professional accompany each of them on set — can you imagine the madness? (Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures/Handout)
To do so, Sarah and her team had to discover the ideal textures and colors. “Today, you find fake grass, which is so fake, it looks real. We didn’t want that, we wanted something really fake, toy-like,” she says. Everything, then, was painted and built, there are very few computer generated images. (CGI): even the landscapes, which refer to the bottoms of the boxes of the dolls and accessories, and the sea waves were developed on a large scale to guarantee the atmosphere of plasticity (as shown in the photos in this report).
Barbie’s makeup
Who is anxious to see Barbie must have noticed some easter eggs that play with our affective memory. One of them was Kate McKinnon’s character Kate McKinnon’s (pictured above) colored squiggle and messy haircut. “That was the most fun part of the job, testing the different looks”, says the head of the film’s makeup department, Ivana Primorac, also in an exclusive interview. “The design process was quite challenging but enjoyable. With a playful script, I was able to prototype countless versions until we arrived at the visuals used in the scene”, she shares.
The triad formed by her, Sarah and Jacqueline guaranteed success in the result. “We discussed every detail, from the color palette to the length of the hair; every look of every Barbie and every Ken.” Margot’s, for example, was the most complicated, due to the amount of costume changes and, consequently, beauty. Not only: “As each one had their individuality, and the number of characters is huge, it was hard work to keep inventing looks for each one”.
Another key point for the makeup and hair team involved differentiating between Barbie Land and the real world. “The goal was to find things that caused a little strangeness, with a vibe of ‘another world’. However, as we have more creative and diverse fashion these days, it took me a while to find the right look for this specific moment. I believe we did it!” Impossible not to be enchanted.
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