21 Easter Eggs, References, And Facts About The "Barbie" Movie That Have Us On Our Tiptoes For The Film
1.The real-life daughter of the inventor of Barbie makes a cameo in the movie
We see in the film preview that Barbie meets an older lady who says that "Humans get one ending. Ideas live forever." Well, it turns out that that older lady is actually Barbara Handler, who inspired the first Barbie when she was just a young girl.
Ruth Handler, who invented the original Barbie doll in 1959, named the doll after her daughter. Makes the now-82-year-old Barbara Handler's appearance in the movie even more special, right?
Catch Barbara's appearance toward the end of this trailer:
2.There are a lot of Wizard of Oz references in the film
Fans, cinephiles, and critics have all noticed the movie's plentiful references to the iconic 1939 film (and all its technicolor glory).
There are The Wizard of Oz posters outside a cinema screening the movie in the film; Margot Robbie's pink gingham dress in the trailer resembles Dorothy's famous blue frock; the pink road isn't unlike the film's yellow brick road; and don't even get me started on the slippers.
"I think we're looking at an epic journey to another world, filled with people that she helps along the way. But when she gets there, she realizes that this seemingly gilded place is actually very wicked," film and TV buff Cat Quinn theorized.
Catch her thoughts here:
3.And yes, there are Matrix references, too
Remember the iconic (and highly meme-ified) red pill/blue pill scene in The Matrix? Well, it looks like Gerwig's movie references that — but with shoes.
SPOILER, but it seems that a big part of the movie's plot is that Barbie's perfect, doll-arched feet fall one day, leading her to become less plastic fantastic-ally perfect. Her more mortal self grapples with harsher realities than her Barbie peers — "Do you guys ever think about dying?" she off-brandedly asks in one scene.
So, she must choose between the high-heeled glam of Barbie Land and the Birkenstock banality of real life — i.e., she can choose the red pill or the blue pill.
I mean, what more evidence do you need?
4.The movie used so much pink paint, it literally created an international shortage
Production designer Sarah Greenwood, set decorator Katie Spencer, and director Greta Gerwig recently spoke to Architectural Digest about just how much pink it took to achieve the gorgeously glam scenery.
Specifically, the fluorescent fuchsia shade they adored that came from Academy Award-winning company Rosco almost meant that the "world run out of pink," said Greenwood.
Look, some art is worth suffering for.
If you haven't seen the Architectural Digest tour yet, Merry Christmas:
5.The famous foot scene only took eight shots
I reckon that for most of us, the still of Margot Robbie's Barbie-arched foot was probably the thing that first sold us on the movie. And Barbelieve it or not (sorry!), it only took the actor eight takes (though she was leaning on a bar).
“Those are my feet,” she recently told Fandango. “[There were] probably about eight takes, it wasn’t that many."
In fact, some worried that the feet weren't Margot Robbie's at all — but she was pretty strict about doing her own stunts (yes, I'm calling it that).
I need to know everything about this shot. How many takes, if she held onto something, was she harnessed, is the landing mark sticky, are they her feet, who did the pedicure, really just a documentary on this shot pic.twitter.com/8a87KsFtXP
— chrissy teigen (@chrissyteigen) April 5, 2023
“I really don’t like it when someone else does my hands or feet in an insert shot,” Robbie told TIME.
Though there was some trickery involved in the shoot (well, some tape).
“I walked up, we had little sticky bits on the floor — double-sided tape — for the shoes, so they wouldn’t come off. So that I could get my feet out of them. And I was holding on to a bar, but that’s it. I wasn’t in like a harness or anything. I just walked up and kind of held onto the bar above camera," Robbie told Fandango.
Watch the clip here:
6.A Mattel higher-up flew out to see Greta Gerwig because he was worried a scene wouldn't be brand-friendly — so Margot Robbie performed it in front of him.
Aside from starring in the movie, Margot Robbie was actually an executive producer on the film. So, when Richard Dickson, COO of Mattel, flew in to stop what he saw as a questionable scene from being filmed, she was the first to step in.
"At one point, (Dickson) says he took a flight to the London set to argue with Gerwig and Robbie over a particular scene, which he felt was off-brand... But Gerwig and Robbie performed the scene for him and changed his mind," says TIME.
To be fair, who could say no to her?
7.The movie's main Barbie was originally Amy Schumer
That's right — Schumer was originally cast in the role in 2016 and almost became a co-writer, too, with Robbie only coming on board in 2019.
"They definitely didn’t want to do it the way I wanted to do it, the only way I was interested in doing it,” the actor and comedian told the Hollywood Reporter.
Apparently, Schumer wanted her Barbie to be an inventor — but when the writers suggested she'd invent jelly heels, Schumer became wary. She eventually walked away because she was gifted a pair of Manolo Blahnik heels as a gift, saying she disliked "the idea that that’s just what every woman must want."
"Right there, I should have gone, ‘You’ve got the wrong gal,’" she said.
Margot, on the other hand, seemed to find the script more refreshing. As she told Harper's Bazaar, “I didn't want to pick up another script where I was the wife or the girlfriend — just a catalyst for the male storyline. It was uninspiring.”
Here's Schumer talking about her exit from the project:
8.Speaking of how actors came to join the movie, Ryan Gosling accepted his role as Ken after seeing his daughter's discarded doll in the garden.
Look, we all know that when it comes to Barbie, certain hierarchies have to exist. "She's everything — he's just Ken," say the promo clips. And you could see why that would be a tough sell for any ego-driven actors.
Luckily, a visit to his garden inspired Gosling to follow a cause greater than his own confidence. Speaking to Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, he said “I walk out in the backyard and you know where I found Ken, Jimmy? Face down in the mud next to a squished lemon.”
After that, he texted a photo of the neglect to Greta Gerwig. “I shall be your Ken,” he wrote. “For his story must be told.”
Watch the video here:
9.The first outfit in the film is the outfit from the original 1959 Barbie — and there are a zillion other amazingly accurate Mattel 'fit reproductions.
Oscar-winning costume designer Jacqueline Durran has worked with Greta Gerwig before; she was the brains behind the looks in the director's version of Little Women.
Barbie was a different task altogether, though. The team referenced outfits like the iconic '94 Hot Skatin' doll, and had to dress multiple Barbies for multiple jobs.
According to Vogue, "The defining characteristic of what she wears is where she’s going and what she’s doing," Durran explains. "It’s about being completely dressed for your job or task. Every doll is sold with a fashion pack, so to go to the beach, Barbie needs a coordinating dress, playsuit, bag, hat, suitable shoes, and accessories."
Though if you want to check out the OG, here's the woman behind a LOT of the original doll's most iconic looks:
And it looks like Margot Robbie is bringing the old-school looks to her promo tour, too:
ABSOLUTELY GENIUS, margot robbie’s stylist referenced the original 1959 barbie for one of her press looks!!! pic.twitter.com/Fi94QYBAK0
— corinne ☆ (@MIUCClAMUSE) June 29, 2023
10.The cast used to have a weekly film club in London while they were filming (no wonder the movie references were so on-point)
Want to get some serious FOMO? Because apparently, the Barbie cast used to go to weekly film screenings in Notting Hill, London (I'm assuming my invite got lost somewhere?).
"Once production was underway, LuckyChap hosted weekly movie screenings at the Electric Cinema in Notting Hill," shared Vogue.
"Every Sunday morning, cast and crew were invited to watch a movie that served as a reference for Barbie. They called this 'movie church.' Gerwig had a sense that Barbie was being guided by old soundstage technicolor musicals, so they watched a bunch of those, most helpfully The Red Shoes and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg."
Consider me converted.
Here's a trailer for the aforementioned The Umbrellas of Cherbourg — you can definitely see its influence on the film, right?
11.Speaking of cast hangouts, Ryan Gosling wasn't able to make it to one of their group sleepovers — so he sent a bagpiper (?) to visit his coworkers instead
Yes, really — the Ken actor decided his absence was best replaced by a passionate Scottish musician.
Speaking to GQ, Gerwig shared details of the incident. Midway through the evening, she says that "This man, this Scottish man in a full kilt, showed up and played the bagpipes. Then, he read a speech from Braveheart. And then he left.”
When asked the seemingly rational question of, uh, why bagpipes, and why Braveheart, Gosling replied: “Well, sometimes, you just need to hear it.”
Just in case this is one of those times for you, here's the speech:
12.The Barbie team attended a Barbie bootcamp before filming
Between 2018 and 2019, the cast went through an immersion course designed by Mattel. The Barbie bootcamp explained the doll’s full history story and the doll's best fashion hits (and misses). Let me innnnn?
13.Oh, did you think we were done with the movie references? Nope! The opening scene references Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Except that unlike in the 1968 original, Barbie towers over a plane of young girls instead of wild apes. Instead of skeletal remains, a child smashes her doll; instead of an imposing alien monolith, Barbie arrives as, well, Barbie.
In both cases, though, chaos soon ensues. And I think it's interesting that, like with a lot of movies Barbie references, Space Odyssey was a real visual pioneer of a film. There's The Wizard of Oz with its technicolor magic, and Kubrick's masterpiece, which achieved all its then-groundbreaking special effects without the help of CGI.
Gerwig seemed stuck on the "real fake" look of these films — i.e., films that weren't real and had fake backgrounds and artificially-colored film, but whose artificial look was created by "real" things like paint and mirrors instead of the impalpable effects of computers and CGI.
In her Architectural Digest video, Gerwig praises the "wonderfully fake but emotionally artificial spaces" in 1950s soundstage musicals. "I want everyone to feel like they can reach into the screen and touch everything," she adds.
Here's how spot-on the reference was:
@ign Margot Robbie in Barbie vs. 2001: A Space Odyssey #barbie #movie #margotrobbie #2001 #2001aspaceodyssey #trailer #wb #gretagerwig
♬ original sound - IGN
14.And if we want to talk about references, Gerwig didn't hold back — Ken and Barbie are apparently a version of the Bible's creation story.
"Ken was invented after Barbie, to burnish Barbie's position in our eyes and in the world," Gerwig told Vogue. "That kind of creation myth is the opposite of the creation myth in Genesis."
In fact, Ken came into being in 1961 in response to fan letters asking for Barbie to have a boyfriend.
As it was in the promotional materials, is now, and ever shall be... Her without Ken, amen.
Shoutout to YouTuber Beauty Inside the Box for their research:
15.Speaking of Ken, while almost all of the Barbies in the movie have jobs, Ken is perpetually unemployed
Well, sort of. His unofficial job is beach, Gosling says.
It makes sense. While the Barbie toys have been nurses, astronauts, and more, Ken dolls started their 'career' in black and white trunks — and have had a paltry 40ish jobs since, compared to Barbie's 200+.
“Ken,” Gosling told GQ, “his job is beach. For 60 years, his job has been beach. What the fuck does that even mean?”
“Ken’s got no money, he’s got no job, he’s got no car, he’s got no house,” Gosling also told Entertainment Tonight. “He’s going through some stuff.” Oof.
Here's the (relatable) video:
16.There is no water in Barbie Land
If you watch the Architectural Digest video, Robbie explains that there's no water whatsoever in Barbie Land (I guess the perfectly-shampooed hair and lush trees just sort of happen).
In the clip, she showers underneath a non-running showerhead — and even though no water leaves the head, she complains in the trailer about taking cold showers.
"There is no water in Barbie Land," Robbie explains in her Architectural Digest video. "There's no water or fire — there are no elements."
She adds that "it's actually funny to see how many people avoid walking — everyone walks around the (fake) pool," she adds.
17.There is no writing in Barbie Land, either
Even though there are so many Barbies in Barbie Land, apparently they choose to communicate through speaking rather than writing to one another. I guess that's the advantage of being able to see directly into each others' homes.
In the Architectural Digest video, Robbie explains that "there's no actual writing in Barbie Land — it's just scribbled the way kids kind of write endless amounts of, you know, nothing. But it's all very beautiful."
I shared the Architectural Digest video at the top before. But if you're not keen to scroll up, here it is again:
18.The promotional Barbie house is currently an Airbnb, and you can stay in it
You've probably seen the promotional house the Barbie team built in Malibu. It was a collab with Airbnb — and yes, that does mean you can stay in it (if you're one of two people who get tickets for a free stay, that is).
The home is privately owned and not usually used for rentals. But it HAS been used for Barbie promo before; it was listed on Airbnb in October 2019 for $60 a night for Barbie’s 60th anniversary.
We can see why.
Here it is from above:
The ‘BARBIE’ Dream House has mysteriously appeared in Malibu.(via @johnschreiber) pic.twitter.com/NV4Wwy9o9B
— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) June 26, 2023
19.Greta Gerwig was worried the Barbie movie would end her career
Speaking on Dua Lipa's At Your Service podcast in November, Gerwig has this to say about taking on the film.
“It was something that was exciting because it was terrifying,” she explained. “I think that was a big part of it, like: ‘Oh, no, Barbie.’… It felt like vertigo, starting to write it, like: ‘Where do you even begin, and what would be the story?" she said.
"Usually, that’s where the best stuff is, where you’re like, ‘I am terrified of that.’ Anything where you’re like, ‘This could be a career-ender’ — then you’re like, ‘I should probably do it.’”
Here's a clip:
20.The clothing team only had 11 weeks to get what looks like a million or so outfits together
Speaking to Vogue, costume designer Jacqueline Durran said that the team only had eleven weeks to get the looks together — and there were lots of them.
“I had buyers going out every day looking for clothes in specific colors in every shop in London,” she said.
"The team were still creating costumes as they filmed," shared Vogue. But it meant they had added flexibility, too. "In one late fitting, actor Ryan Gosling came up with the idea for Ken-branded underwear for his character, a detail that went viral when the film’s marketing dropped. 'We just rushed to make it,'" Durran told Vogue.
Side note — Durran also said of dressing Barbie, “You don’t treat Barbie like you treat a regular character because the motivation for what she’s wearing isn’t from within.” I just think that's neat.
Here's Margot Robbie singing her Barbie outfit's praises:
21.Margot Robbie is the reason "Barbie Girl" ended up on Barbie's soundtrack — sort of
Fans were devastated after Danish band Aqua announced the song wouldn't be in the movie (it's me, I'm 'fans').
But Margot Robbie, among others, were insistent it get included, as she told Rolling Stone.
"I was like, 'Greta, how are we going to incorporate this song? We can’t do a Barbie movie and not have a nod to Aqua’s 'Barbie Girl.' It has to be in there.' And [Greta] was like, 'Don’t worry, we’re going to find a cool way to incorporate it.' And then, when she was like, 'Guess who’s going to do the remix of Aqua’s "Barbie Girl"? Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice.' I was like, 'Together? Are you joking?!' I just knew immediately that all my girlfriends were going to lose their minds." she said.
