‘Barbie’ looks to be an Oscars below-the-line darling

Jacob Sarkisian
·4 min read
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“Barbie” has got us all a-buzz for the movie now that its latest trailer has shown us a bit more about what we can expect from the Greta Gerwig-directed movie. Written by Gerwig and her partner Noah Baumbach, little is known of the movie in terms of plot but the official IMDB synopsis reads: “To live in Barbie Land is to be a perfect being in a perfect place. Unless you have a full-on existential crisis. Or you’re a Ken.”

The movie stars Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling while a host of other A-list stars also appear as variations of Barbie and Ken, including Issa Rae and Kate McKinnon and Simu Liu and Ncuti Gatwa. The movie could be up for a hell of a lot of awards for its ensemble cast, while Gerwig and Baumbach carry awards pedigree of their own (three Oscar nominations each). But where the movie might really find awards success is in its below-the-line work.

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Rodrigo Prieto is the movie’s cinematographer and he is already getting plaudits for that instantly-iconic shot of Barbie’s feet stepping out of her high heels and remaining in the same position. Prieto looks to have brought to life the color and vibrancy of Barbie so much so that it looks like a sweet shop. Prieto previously earned Oscar nominations for “Brokeback Mountain” and a pair of Martin Scorsese movies: “Silence” and “The Irishman.”

Meanwhile, French composer Alexandre Desplat handles the film’s score. Not too much of his work can be heard in the “Barbie” trailer but we’re sure it’ll be as sweet and eclectic as the rest of the trailer and as the rest of Desplat’s work. The composer has scored a whopping 11 Oscar nominations so far, the most recent being for his work on Gerwig’s 2019 movie “Little Women.” He also earned bids for, amongst others, “The Queen,” “The King’s Speech,” and “Isle of Dogs” while he won for Wes Anderson‘s “The Grand Budapest Hotel” and Guillermo del Toro‘s “The Shape of Water.”

Onto production design now and Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer look to have knocked it out of the park with this one. The toy-like landscapes and sets featured in the trailer are nothing short of astounding — a plastic, fantastic, Barbie world brought to life in technicolor splendor. Greenwood and Spencer have previously earned six Oscar nominations as a team, including for their work on “Atonement,” “Sherlock Holmes,” “Anna Karenina,” and, most recently, “Darkest Hour” and “Beauty and the Beast.”

It’s the same story in costume design. Legendary costume designer Jacqueline Durran looks to have landed another winner here. Those pink high heels, Ken’s Baskin & Robbins-esque swimsuit and shirt, those roller-skating outfits — in fact, every candy-colored collection of clothing featured in the trailer is exquisite. “The Devil Wears Prada’s” Miranda Priestly would have a field day. Durran has been nominated for eight Oscars so far and has won twice — in 2013 for “Anna Karenina” and in 2020 when she worked with Gerwig on “Little Women.” The hair and makeup department will also likely receive significant awards attention for Barbieifying and Kenifying its A-list cast, although it’s unclear as of yet who would be the person(s) to receive the award for Best Hair and Makeup.

Meanwhile, the movie’s editing looks to sow together the color of Barbie Land with the seriousness of the real world, as teased in the trailer. Editor Nick Houy will play a large part in ensuring the movie’s pace and tone are as perfectly pitched as possible — it could be a real balancing act, so if the movie works as we all hope and expect it will, Houy will have had a large part to play in that. Houy has never been nominated for an Oscar, although he did win an Emmy in 2017 for Best Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Limited Series or a Movie for “The Night Of” (shared with Jay Cassidy).

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