Margot Robbie never owned a Barbie doll

Actor Margot Robbie never owned a Barbie doll growing up. But after she attained stardom in Hollywood and founded her own production company, she heard rumours of a Barbie film and kept tabs on it.

There had been a few previous attempts at bringing Barbie to the big screen. But those projects never got off the ground. Then in 2018, a new CEO was installed at Mattel. Robbie sensed an opportunity and arranged a meeting.

Robbie told the CEO she wanted to honour the 60-year legacy of Barbie, but that there were also many people out there who hate Barbie. And it was important for the company to be part of that conversation. It must have been a hard pill for Mattel to swallow. Not the fact there were people who hated Barbie Mattel knew that but to consider a pitch that would acknowledge that hate in a movie.

Robbie then approached Greta Gerwig about writing and directing the Barbie film. Gerwig was an actor who had received five Oscar nominations for the first film she wrote and directed called Lady Bird. Unlike Robbie, Gerwig grew up playing with Barbies. She liked the idea of a Barbie movie on the condition she and her male co-writing partner, Noah Baumbach, could write it together.

Margot Robbie then pitched Gerwig to Mattel. Mattel signed off. The project was a go.

When Robbie first read the finished script, she thought it was genius. But she also thought they'll never let us to do this. The film was too bold, too ambitious and too honest. But amazingly, Mattel approved the script.

As everyone knows, Barbieland is ruled by Barbies. Ken, her male sidekick, was created second. Gerwig liked that aspect of Barbie history saying it was the opposite of the Adam and Eve creation story in the Bible. In the film, Barbies happily rule Barbieland, the Kens are merely fashion accessories. The Barbies assume it is the same in the real world. But when Barbie and Ken are thrust into the real world, they discover a lot of women don't like Barbie, and men rule the world. Barbie is shocked. Ken is delighted.

When the current CEO landed at Mattel, the company's revenues were in steep decline. But he had a vision for Mattel. He wanted to create a film division to tell great stories based on its toys. He believed the intellectual properties Mattel owned could turn into a kind of Marvel universe. When it came time to approve the Barbie script, Mattel had to put a lot of trust into Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig.

The movie is not a Barbie puff piece, some people in the film hate Barbie, the film takes some shots at Mattel, all while asking some big existential questions. But the CEO believed it was important for Mattel to take risks, and to put filmmakers ahead of the toys. That way they would always be able to attract top talent.

The calculated risk paid off. Barbie would go on to do something few movies in history have ever done. It broke the $1 billion mark at the box office, Greta Gerwig became the highest-grossing female director in Hollywood, and Barbie became the highest-grossing movie in Warner Brothers' 100-year history.

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