Lights, Camera, Barbie! The moment we have all been waiting for is finally here. Thanks to the visionary filmmaker, Greta Gerwig, who brought back the pink-tastic Barbie’s world to our lives. Theatres are now jam-packed with fans witnessing the iconic doll grappling with the real world. The plot revolves around the story of a doll (Margot Robbie) living in Barbie land, who is expelled for not being perfect enough. She then sets off on an adventure in the real world. Not only will the captivating plot keep you glued to the screens, but what truly stands out is the absence of CGI in Barbie Land’s filmmaking technique.
Production designer Sarah Greenwood, in an interview with Vogue, recalled the journey of bringing Barbie Land to life. She revealed receiving a call from Gerwig, and within a few weeks, signing up for the film with set decorator Katie Spencer.
Intriguing us with a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the creation of Barbie Land, Katie Spencer said to her they were creating a toy. “Everybody knows what’s CGI. Your sixth sense will tell you—even children will know. So with the painted backdrops, it just gave everybody the belief that you are in the toy box, you are in there, you are a toy,” she said.
The masterminds behind Barbie Land established some rules. No black, white, or chrome were allowed on the sets. As per the portal, Barbie’s world is without fire or water, she showers under a faucet with no flowing water, and waves crash onto blush-coloured sand at her beach. Every detail is meticulously crafted to resemble a toy, including her wardrobe which is adorned with plastic wrap. The creators reduced everything by 23%, a magical number they devised, resulting in Barbie and her Just Ken (Ryan Gosling) appearing larger than life in their spaces.
Interestingly, Barbie’s pool shown in the film was first painted and later covered with layers of thick clear resin. This was done to create a surface that was “slightly undulating” like actual water.
The set was built in the north of London in the middle of winter. “With cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto’s lighting, he put a thousand sky pans on this particular set. These are amazingly, brilliantly bright lights. And then he had these huge soft suns, so the quality of light on that set was phenomenal. And everybody went in there and it was bathing in color and light. It was joy, and everybody absolutely loved it. To come in from the snow outside and the rain and the wind, you come into this beautiful colour and it was just like, whoa,” Greenwood revealed.
Barbie also features Simu Liu, Dua Lipa, Kate McKinnon, and Issa Rae in pivotal roles. The film hit the big screens on July 21.
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