Oscar nominees and regular collaborators Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird) and Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale) will be writing the script for Warner Bros. upcoming live-action Barbie movie starring Oscar winner Margot Robbie (I, Tonya), The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. Gerwig is also in contention to direct the feature.
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Besides starring as Barbie, whose real name is Barbara Millicent Roberts, Robbie is also producing through LuckyChap banner alongside Tom Ackerly. The feature will also mark the first project from the newly-established Mattel Films, which is headed by producer Robbie Brenner.
Barbie was originally being developed at Sony for the last few years, with Amy Schumer and then Anne Hathaway both initially in talks to star in the movie. In January it was announced that the movie had been pushed back to a May 8, 2020 release date. Robbie — who has a busy slate including Dreamland, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Birds of Prey, and Ruin — will now take over the role from Hathaway.
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There was a previous iteration of the Barbie movie that included a screenplay from Hilary Winston (The LEGO Ninjago Movie, the Bad Teacher TV series) with Amy Schumer and her sister Kim Caramele having done a rewrite. Oscar winner Diablo Cody was also working on the screenplay at the studio back in 2015.
In the meantime, Robbie’s scheduled to reprise her role of Harley Quinn next month for DC’s latest big-screen adaptation, Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn).
(Photo Credit: Getty Images)
