“I Felt Quite Exposed Playing This Character in a Way I Didn’t Expect”: ‘THR Presents’ Q&A With ‘Barbie’s Margot Robbie
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
When Warner Brothers released the first teaser trailer for the Barbie movie in December, 2022 heads quite literally rolled — doll heads, that is. The decision to release the movie’s 2001: A Space Odyssey-themed opening scene, featuring a larger-than-life Margot Robbie, in the Original Barbie swimsuit, descending on a population of little girls who had heretofore only known the concept of baby dolls, was a gamble by the filmmakers. But Robbie, who also served as executive producer through her company Lucky Chap, says they all felt it was important that scene be the first thing released.
“I really don’t like that you’re encouraged to just give away your whole movie in a trailer, I think a marketing campaign should be part of the entertainment process,” she said during a recent THR Presents panel, powered by Vision Media. “There should be an element of mystery. What we needed to signal to the world was: This isn’t what you’re expecting. It’s cinematic. We’re literally redoing Kubrick.” Robbie explained that the opening scene, especially when released as a trailer, serves as a foreshadowing of the narrative turns to come — in Kubrick’s 2001, the monolith appears and then humanity evolves around it, and that mirrors the way Barbie’s introduction to the world reset culture. “We know all the reasons [we did it], but I’m sure everyone else was just like, what is happening?” she laughs.
More from The Hollywood Reporter
The Making of 'Barbie': Margot Robbie Says the Film's Last Line Is "The Hill I Was Ready to Die On"
Canadian Box Office Surged in 2023, But Short of $1B Pre-Pandemic Level
'Barbie,' 'Oppenheimer' Among Costume Designers Guild Award Nominees
The opening sequence was, actually, a bit of a family affair — Robbie’s own niece plays one of the little girls destroying their baby dolls after seeing Barbie — and that theme continued elsewhere in the production. During one of the pivotal third act scenes, when Barbie and Ruth Handler (played by Rhea Perlman) hold hands and viewers see a montage of home videos, it features real footage from the cast and crew. “It’s our private things that we put into this movie and then shared with the world,” she says. “There’s a clip of me holding my friends’ baby, you can’t see my face but my friend winks at the camera. I shot that on my Super Eight on her wedding day as she was putting on her makeup.”
While Barbie was groundbreaking for Robbie’s career as a producer in many ways, what with its gargantuan budget and elaborate set-making, she says she felt the most growth in her approach to her acting career. “If I’m being honest, I felt quite exposed in playing this character in a way I definitely wasn’t expecting,” she says. “In the past I’ve really hid behind my characters, they’re big, crazy characters and I’m in makeup and costumes and I do an accent. There’s none of me in that. By the end of Barbie, after she’s gone on this journey — and my wigs are getting smaller, the clothes are less structured — you feel like you’re just watching me which is the opposite of what my instincts tell me what to do.”
Much like Barbie herself, Robbie is looking to lean into this feeling even more with future projects. “Injecting the personal and intimate things of yourself into a character leaves you a bit raw, but it’s kind of beautiful as well,” she says. “Embracing the painful parts of life makes you more alive, and I’m in that headspace right now.”
This edition of THR Presents is sponsored by Warner Bros.
Best of The Hollywood Reporter
