Kate McKinnon predicted Margot Robbie's Barbie role when they starred together in Bombshell
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Before Margot Robbie and Kate McKinnon were Barbies, they were Fox News employees who helped expose TV executive and Fox News chairman Roger Ailes' sexual harassment scandal.
The two played close work friends Kayla Pospisil and Jess Carr with a queer subplot in the 2019 drama Bombshell, centered on the real-life efforts of broadcast journalists Megyn Kelly (played by Charlize Theron) and Gretchen Carlson (Nicole Kidman) to bring to light Ailes' (John Lithgow) predatory behavior and the toxic atmosphere he presided over at the network. As it turns out, McKinnon's Carr may have manifested Robbie's Barbie role in the upcoming flick from director Greta Gerwig, out July 21.
Robbie, also a producer on Barbie, reminded viewers as much in a conversation with Fandango published earlier this week. "Do you know what's so funny? Kate McKinnon and I worked together on Bombshell, and in one take in Bombshell — which actually made the cut in the movie — my character's been revamped because she's [just done] her first on-camera thing, and I come out and she goes, 'Wow, Anchor Barbie.' It's in the movie."
The revelation came after the interviewer asked whether Robbie or costar Ryan Gosling, who plays Ken, have been referred to their dolls in the past. "I don't think I've ever [been called] Ken," Gosling said, noting to Robbie, "I don't think anyone ever saw this but you and Greta. I get Bryan a lot. But never Ken."
"Bryan?" Robbie asked in disbelief.
"Yeah," he said.
"Oh, as in people getting your name wrong," Robbie clarified, prompting an affirmative from Gosling.
Hilary Bronwyn Gayle/Lionsgate Margot Robbie and Kate McKinnon in 'Bombshell'
McKinnon plays the delightfully eccentric Weird Barbie in Gerwig's Barbie, which features various versions of Barbies and Kens, also played by the likes of Issa Rae, Simu Liu, Ncuti Gatwa, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Alexandra Shipp, Dua Lipa, and Hari Nef. The film follows Robbie's Barbie as she experiences a full-on existential crisis, leading her to seek counsel from Weird Barbie, who informs her that she must travel to the real world to discover the truth about the universe.
Robbie and Gerwig recently spoke on the joys of creating a handcrafted set that felt like being in a toy box in EW's Around the Table with the cast (above), conducted prior to the actors' strike. "It's like they were finally flexing these amazing muscles they have," Robbie says of the crew. "They're like, 'Oh, we can do so many things on this movie, whether building life-sized dreamhouses or hand painting mountains on a backdrop.'"
"Everybody who works on a movie on some level is the kid making something strange on the playground [and is] like, 'I made this!'" Gerwig adds. The crew "all got to be that kid," she says, "Like, 'Look at what I did!'"
Barbie and her pink convertible cruise into theaters July 21.
Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.
Related content:
