Margot Robbie has said one of the “biggest fights” when creating the Barbie movie was convincing everyone that it would also appeal to a male audience.
The Australian actress starred as the world-famous doll and co-produced Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster, which stormed the box office and became part of the zeitgeist last year.
Robbie discussed the challenge of getting the film created during the The Hollywood Reporter’s actress roundtable, which featured fellow stars who are expected to dominate awards season including Emma Stone, Lily Gladstone, Annette Bening, Carey Mulligan and Greta Lee.
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Carey Mulligan Lily Gladstone Margot Robbie Greta Lee Annette Bening Emma Stone
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Asked what is was like talking to distributor Warner Bros and Barbie manufacturer Mattel, Robbie said: “One of the biggest fights was convincing everyone that it could be a four-quadrant movie because it had a budget that necessitated it being a four-quadrant movie. And that means getting men to go see it.
“Everyone’s like ‘There’s just no way. Men will never, ever go to see a Barbie movie.’
“Men will go see a great movie. If it’s great, everyone would go see it.”
A four-quadrant movie is one which appeals to all four major audience demographics – male and female, and over and under 25 years of age.
Three weeks after its release in July, Barbie became the highest-grossing film of the year at the UK and Ireland box office as it raked in £67.5 million.
It went on to join the one billion dollar club in global ticket sales, has been nominated for nine Golden Globe Awards and is expected to garner more nods during award season.
Robbie said that once they had the script for the film she asked the investors to “get comfortable with being very uncomfortable”.
“So every time it’s like ‘Tell me your concerns. I totally hear you. I see why that is making you uncomfortable, but that’s what we’re going to do, and we’re just going to have to get comfortable with that feeling’”, she said.
“And it was always just like ‘Just get it to the next stage. Get it to the next stage. Before you know it, we’ll be on set.’
“It was an amazing process, and everyone, to their credit, did get really comfortable with being uncomfortable. And Mattel’s literally a character in it.”
The actress said she went into “selling mode” when pitching the film, recalling: “I was like ‘When you pair Spielberg with dinosaurs, what do you get? A billion dollars. When you pair Greta and Barbie, you are going to make a billion dollars’.”
She admitted she did feel the weight of the expectation she set but felt she just had to “double down” and hope it would deliver.
“I think as a producer, you’ve got to make your choices and then you back that choice.
“I will bleed myself out before I tell a director they can’t have something they need.
“I’m like ‘If that’s what you need for this, then let me go. I’ll make that happen.’ That’s your job.
“So there was a lot of just completely doubling down on some crazy big, bold ideas.”