Margot Robbie Tried To Give Greta Gerwig An Out In Casting Her As Barbie
Margot Robbie might seem like the obvious choice for the lead role in "Barbie," but it wasn't obvious to everyone — even Robbie herself. The actor was attached to the project from the very beginning, having met with Mattel executives long before they approached director and co-writer Greta Gerwig. However, she was only supposed to produce the project at first. Robbie insisted that Gerwig could consider other people for the titular role, and the "Babylon" star was not the only one in talks for the summer blockbuster. Luckily for us, Gerwig only saw one person as the quintessential Barbie.
Lots of people know Robbie for her stand-out performances as Harley Quinn in "Birds of Prey" or Tonya Harding in "I, Tonya," but fans might not know that the actor produced these projects as well. Her production company LuckyChap also produced "Barbie" and the acclaimed 2020 film "Promising Young Woman," in which Robbie is notably absent from the cast.
The "Wolf of Wall Street" star first agreed to produce "Barbie" back in 2018, long before Gerwig was attached to the project. Other major Hollywood players like Anne Hathaway and Amy Schumer were being considered for the lead role, per Time. Schumer dropped out of the project due to "creative differences," having been presented a significantly less "feminist and cool" version of the film prior to Gerwig's involvement, the comedian revealed on Watch What Happens Live.
Robbie didn't even consider herself as an option for the lead role at first. "This is going to sound stupid, but I really didn't even think about playing Barbie until years into developing the project," the actor confessed to Vogue. Once Gerwig was attached, Robbie wanted to give her the freedom to pick whatever Barbie she saw fit but, for Gerwig, there was only one real choice.
Robbie had skin in the game as a producer, but not as an actor
Gerwig got the job directing "Barbie" after a long call with Mattel executives. The writer-director's clear vision and thorough pitch immediately set the company at ease. "I think at that point, when I was in hour three of talking, they all realized no one has thought more about this," she explained to Rolling Stone. "They saw I wake up every morning and panic about proportions and color saturation. And they were like, 'We don't have to panic. She's already panicked about this.' And I think that gave them a sense of comfort."
Once Gerwig was on board, it was important to Robbie that Gerwig and her co-writer and partner, Noah Baumbach, were given as much freedom as possible. "We worked hard to give them their space and let them come up with what the movie was going to be, uninterrupted, without people pushing an agenda on them — not Mattel, not Warner Bros., not us," the actor told Time.
Part of this creative liberty came down to casting. Despite Robbie's involvement, she didn't want Gerwig to feel limited to choosing her for the lead. "I didn't want whoever our director was going to be — Greta [Gerwig] being the first choice, but if she had said no — I didn't want our director to feel pressured to put me in the role," she recalled in an interview with Collider. "So I was just really upfront about like, 'I won't be offended in the slightest. We could go to anyone. Whatever story you want to tell and whoever you want that to be, I support that. I've got skin in the game as a producer, I don't have skin in the game as an actor, so be free with that choice.'"
Gerwig insisted on writing the role for Robbie
Even though Gerwig gave Robbie the option to choose someone else for the part, Gerwig saw Robbie as her Barbie immediately. "[Gerwig] was like, 'Shut up, I want to write this for you,'" Robbie continued. "And I was like, 'You might feel pressured to say that, but ...' and we did that dance for a while. And then eventually I just accepted that she did want me to play the role, and then she wrote it. She wrote me in and she wrote Ryan in, and it was our names printed in the script from the get-go: 'Barbie — Margot,' 'Ken — Ryan Gosling.'"
When Gerwig initially decided to cast Gosling as the primary Ken, he was not attached to the project yet. In fact, the director hadn't even met the actor before — this was simply aspirational casting on her part. Luckily, her manifestation tactic worked, with the help of Robbie's persistence. The actor even brought her co-star Barbie-related presents every day of shooting to help him stay in character, per Vogue.
"Well, it was only ever Ryan Gosling, and it was a long journey," the "Lady Bird" director confessed to Rolling Stone. "Margot and I just wouldn't take no for an answer. From the moment that Margot came to me and I knew we were making this for Margot, I equally knew we were making this for Ryan. And I did not know Ryan at all. I'd never met him. I just was sure, and as soon as I thought of it, it made me so happy. Who else could do this?"
Gerwig noted that Gosling's performance felt inspired by four legendary actors, describing his Kenergy as "some combination of Marlon Brando meets Gene Wilder meets John Barrymore meets John Travolta."
The director clearly made the right choice
It was immediately clear to Gerwig — and audiences everywhere — that the director made the right choice by casting Robbie as the lead. "She's such a technical actor," Gerwig continued, speaking of Robbie. "But as Barbie changes, she allows the audience to see her experiencing something pure without performing. She's allowing herself to be vulnerable. And it's crazy because she's playing a doll, and yet it's such an exquisitely human performance."
But the Australian actor wasn't the only Barbie to be featured in the 2023 megahit. Mattel started launching Barbies of different body types in 2015. By broadening the idea of what it means to be Barbie — and the feminine ideal she represents — the brand appealed to a wider audience, including Robbie herself, who wouldn't have made "Barbie" if she was the only one.
"If [Mattel] hadn't made that change to have a multiplicity of Barbies, I don't think I would have wanted to attempt to make a Barbie film," the actor confessed to Time. "I don't think you should say, 'This is the one version of what Barbie is, and that's what women should aspire to be and look like and act like.'"
Robbie's co-star Issa Rae argued that Barbie still represents an unrealistic ideal for women, but that ideal had to be more inclusive for it to sit right with audiences. "Barbie Land is perfect, right?" she added. "It represents perfection. So if perfection is just a bunch of white Barbies, I don't know that anybody can get on board with that."
Between Mattel's brand inclusivity and Gerwig's persistence, the perfect Barbie was cast, and "Barbie" quickly became a massive achievement for everyone involved.