The blond, gorgeous Margot Robbie may be an obvious choice to cast as a live-action version of Barbie, but the Birds of Prey star and Oscar nominee promises her upcoming movie will surprise everyone in the best way.
Multiple stars have been attached to a live-action Barbie adaptation, including Anne Hathaway and Amy Schumer. However, in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Margot—who runs the production company LuckyChap Entertainment along with her husband Tom Ackerley and best friend Josey McNamara—revealed how their new Barbie project defies assumptions of the character.
"We like the things that feel a little left of center," the Wolf of Wall Street star told the outlet. "Something like Barbie where the [intellectual property], 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.'"
Bringing on life partners and sometimes creative team Noah Baumbach and Little Women director Greta Gerwig—whose films, some of which they worked on together, include quirky dramedies like Frances Ha, Greenberg and Lady Bird—to write the movie also means we're in for something a little different from many big budget comedies.
"Now, can we truly honor the IP and the fan base and also surprise people?" Margot posed in the interview. "Because if we can do all that and provoke a thoughtful conversation, then we're really firing on all cylinders."
In addition to working on the upcoming Barbie movie, Margot shared the reason why she decided not to star in LuckyChap Entertainment's Promising Young Woman, an upcoming revenge fantasy starring Carey Mulligan. Despite the dark subject matter, the film features a soundtrack that includes Paris Hilton's "Stars Are Blind" and a candy-colored palette.
"I was like, 'I think I'm who people would expect to be cast in this.' But the most delightful thing about Promising Young Woman is that it takes you by surprise, and I just felt like I wouldn't be that surprising—me doing these kinds of things with people's perception of who I am and the characters that I've played," she shared. "Carey Mulligan, however, is an actress that has this air of prestige around her. She's in period dramas. Throw her in Promising Young Woman, and people's minds get blown."
It sounds like there are major surprises coming our way from LuckyChap—and likely many, many more coming down the pipeline.