The Barbie movie is so pink, it literally led to a paint shortage
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Turns out the process of creating Barbie's dream world had a pretty major effect on the real world.
The film's production designer, Sarah Greenwood, recently revealed that the design and construction of Barbie Land — with its many bubblegum pink Dreamhouses, lampposts, roads, and fences — was covered in so much of Barbie's signature bright color that it drained an entire company's supply of pink paint and led to a paint shortage.
"The world," Greenwood recalled to Architectural Digest in a new interview, "ran out of pink."
Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures Margot Robbie in 'Barbie'
The specific hue in question? A fluorescent pink shade from Rosco, which is featured in homes across Barbie Land, including Barbie's (Margot Robbie) very own Dreamhouse.
Lauren Proud, vice president of global marketing at Rosco, told the Los Angeles Times that the movie "used as much paint as we had" while filming. However, she noted that it wasn't just Barbie that caused the company's pink paint problem — global supply chain issues resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2021 Texas ice storm also contributed to it.
"There was this shortage," Proud said, "and then we gave them everything we could — I don't know they can claim credit." But she ultimately admitted, "They did clean us out on paint."
Warner Bros. Pictures Margot Robbie in 'Barbie'
When it came to creating the intense rosy landscape, director Greta Gerwig explained to Architectural Digest that "maintaining the 'kid-ness'" of its vibrant, youthful design was paramount in her mind. "I wanted the pinks to be very bright," she said, "and everything to be almost too much."
Gerwig added that she wanted every aspect of Barbie Land to be so larger-than-life because she didn't want to "forget what made me love Barbie when I was a little girl."
"I wanted to capture what was so ridiculously fun about the Dreamhouses," she explained. "Why walk down stairs when you can slide into your pool? Why trudge up stairs when you take an elevator that matches your dress?"
Barbie — which stars Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Issa Rae, Simu Liu, and many more — hits theaters July 21.
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