Barbie-mania arrives as fans flock to Sydney’s Pitt St Mall
Hundreds of fans flocked to Sydney’s Pitt St Mall on Friday to see Margot Robbie in a highly publicised public event ahead of what some are already calling the movie of the year. SEE THE FAN PICTURES
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They came in a sea of pink to see one person but tight-knit security ensured Barbie was kept locked firmly in her box.
Hundreds of fans flocked to Sydney’s Pitt St Mall on Friday to see Margot Robbie in a highly publicised public event ahead of what some are already calling the movie of the year. However the blonde bombshell was largely kept under wraps, with a heavy security and police presence and barricades and tarps surrounding the stage.
“I think I saw the top of her head which was pretty exciting,“ said Georgia McSeveny who took the day of school and travelled three hours to come to the event.
The 18-year-old Newcastle student came dressed head to toe in shades of pink, and said she was impressed to see just how diverse the crowd was.
“It’s so great to see not just young people here but a lot of older people as well.” Robbie was joined by co-stars America Ferrera, Issa Rae, and the visionary director Greta Gerwig.
Lucky fans able to squeeze past security and get close enough to view ‘Barbie Goes Under Witness Protection’ were given free tickets to the film, as well as dolls.
Bringing the film’s hype to Sydney, and her native Australia, was a full circle moment for Robbie, who first sat down with Mattel about her concept five years ago and has spearheaded the whole project.
Seeing it come to life, and seeing how keen fans are to see the result, was emotional for everyone involved.
“I was aware that the Barbie IP was floating around … and hadn’t come to full fruition,” the film’s producer and star said at a private event at Bondi this week.
“So we had been keeping tabs on the property and when there seemed like there was an opening so we jumped at the opportunity – we sat down with the Mattel CEO, and pitched what we as a production company would want to do with a Barbie movie.
“The reason we went after the property is because it seemed like a very big and exciting and … scary opportunity.
“The word itself is globally recognised – and people have very strong feelings about Barbie in a lot of cases, so it felt like a really exciting place to start a film where the audience already feel a certain way, but at the very least, have associated childhood memories with it.
“It seemed like we could do something special.”
She said being on set and seeing Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of her vision come together was like a ‘giant dance and slumber party’.
“Every day was exciting,” said Robbie, who did all her own stunts – including jumping from the top of the Barbie DreamHouse, which was over seven metres high.
“No scene is boring.
“The first day was particularly exciting just seeing pieces come together for many, many years – watching them hand make these sets, and hand paint the backdrops and watching our fellow cast come in for costume fittings – I kept seeing what the world would look like, but in fragmented pieces.
“And on day one, seeing it all come together in its entirety – I was just blown away, and I could see everyone else was too.
“We all played music and everyone were dancing around and it just set the tone for the rest of the film.”
And while some may consider Barbie un-PC in a ‘pink is for girls’ way, or give young fans the impression that Barbie was a ‘blonde bimbo’ that focused on looks – parents can rest assured the film’s purpose is actually to present the opposite.
Existing in Barbie Land where every day is perfect and every woman a strong, successful and self-assured Barbie – Robbie’s character and Ryan Gosling’s Ken make the trip into the ‘real world’, where an unfortunate reality sets in.
It’s emotional, and an interesting journey of female power. Or lack thereof.
“I definitely didn’t want to portray Barbie as being vapid in any way,” Robbie continued.
“The thing about our how our story is constructed is that Barbie can be anything – Barbie can be president, Barbie can be a Nobel prize winner – you see all this stuff at the beginning of the movie that sets up how incredibly intelligent Barbie is.
“But at the same time, she hasn’t been exposed to so many concepts that she’s going to be exposed to in the real world – so it was a fine line between playing naivety without it coming across as unintelligent, because I didn’t want it to seem ditzy.
“Because that’s not interesting to play, and it’s not interesting to watch either.
“There are times in the movie where we lean into stereotypes – we literally call my Barbie stereotypical Barbie – so we’re very much leaning into some stereotypes so that we can, in a way of being self aware, play up the comedy, but also have a deeper conversation about some sort of issue.
“It was an interesting challenge to find – how do we portray the fact that she hasn’t been exposed to certain things that she’s going to learn along the way, but it doesn’t mean that she’s not intelligent.”
With the level of hysteria surrounding the film, which will open later this month, Robbie hopes her labour of love ‘does well’ – but not for reasons you may think.
“Of course I want it to do well because we all worked so hard and we love it so much – but I think it is important when a movie like this does do well – like if Wonder Woman hadn’t done what Wonder Woman had done, I don’t know if people would have given us the budget we got,” she explains.
“And if this does well, then the next person who wants to make a female (film) … it’s so important.
“I remember when they were trying to come up with comps for this movie – and there’s not that many.
“It’s important to have them – it makes a difference on the business side of things to have those comps and have the proof in the pudding that they’ve made money and done well.
“And hopefully we can be an extra stepping stone for the next thing.”
She stressed you don’t have to be a Barbie fan to enjoy the movie either.
“This movie is a great movie,” the Academy Award-nominated actor said – and fun fact, the cast and crew have 50 Academy Award nominations between them, as well as eight Oscar wins.
“You don’t have to watch it because you can feel compelled as a woman to help female driven (films) – you should watch this movie because it’s a fun movie.
“And it is so well crafted – we have award-winning cinematographers and set designers and costume designers – everyone is operating at the highest level.
“And we’ve got actors like Ryan Gosling – it is a top quality film that also happens to be extremely fun.
“So yes, if you love Barbie, you’re going to love it.
“If you hate Barbie, you’re going to love it.
“But if you just like a good movie, you’re also going to love it.”
Barbie is out on July 21.
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