Margot Robbie in talks to play Barbie, Patty Jenkins may direct

[News]

Sony and Mattel have been trying to get a Barbie movie off the ground for years now, and they might have found their perfect lead in Oscar-nominated actress Margot Robbie, who The Hollywood Reporter says is in “early talks” with the studio. A Robbie-focused Barbie movie, however, will likely play a bit differently than the version they were previously trying to develop. Update: Per THR, Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins is “circling” the project, but “no substantive talks or offers” have taken place.

In 2016, Amy Schumer was slated to play Barbie in a live-action satire described as “a contemporary spin on beauty, feminism, and identity.” In that version, Schumer’s Barbie is just one Barbie in a land of them. After realizing that she doesn’t quite fit in, she’s kicked out of that world and into our own, where it’s okay to be different. They could still tell that story, but the hook previously was that Schumer didn’t fit the Barbie mold; Robbie, on the other hand, does. The story, then, takes on a different resonance.

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Schumer dropped out soon after, citing “scheduling conflicts,” and Anne Hathaway stepped into the role. Since then, the film’s release date has been pushed back from June of 2018 to May of 2020. There’s no word as to whether Hathaway is still involved in the project.

Robbie’s got quite the slate lined up. She’ll reprise her Harley Quinn in Birds of Prey and a relationship comedy with Jared Leto’s The Joker, and she’s currently at work as doomed actress Sharon Tate in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time In Hollywood. This fall, she’ll star in Mary Queen of Scots.

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