Original ‘Barbie’ Writer Exited Sony’s Failed Movie Because ‘They Wanted a Girl-Boss Feminist Twist on Barbie’ and ‘That’s Not What Barbie Is’
variety.comZack Sharf Digital News Director When Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie’s “Barbie” finally opens in theaters later this month, it will mark the end of a long, long journey to get the iconic Mattel doll to the big screen.
Sony Pictures originally had the rights to Barbie and spent years trying to get a movie off the ground. Actors such as Amy Schumer and Anne Hathaway came and went.
Schumer said last month that she exited her “Barbie” movie because the script wasn’t “feminist and cool” enough. Another talent that left “Barbie” during the film’s development at Sony was Diablo Cody, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of “Juno.” She exited the film in 2018 and told ScreenCrush at the time, “I was literally incapable of turning in a ‘Barbie’ draft.
God knows I tried.” Why was “Barbie” so hard to crack for an Oscar-winning talent? Cody reflected on the failed project in a new interview with GQ magazine. “I think I know why I shit the bed,” Cody said. “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.
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