Sony has been working on a live-actionBarbiemovie for a very long time, and the project just took a very major, and very interesting, step forward. A new report claims that a seemingly not-so-obvious actress is in talks for the lead role in the movie. Who is that actress? Surprisingly, it isAmy Schumer.
The Hollywood Reporterbroke the news thatAmy Schumeris the studio’s choice to play the lead in this long in developmentBarbie movie. Apparently, with a lead actress finally attached, the project is heating up because the report notes that a search for a director is also underway. Here is how THR is describing the plot of theBarbiemovie.
“The feature, with Schumer in the lead, will try to address those in a story that begins in a perfect land of Barbies where one woman slowly awakens to the fact that she doesn’t fit it. She is expelled from the idealistic land and journeys to the real world, where she discovers that being unique is an asset.”
With the description in mind,Amy Schumerseems like a very promising choice, even if it is likely to come as a bit of a surprise to many who may have been expecting someone likeMargot RobbieorKate Uptonto nab the part. She will reportedly be rewriting the script with her sisterKim Caramele, working from a draft byHilary Winston. Sony hired three different writers last year to pen different versions of thescreenplayandHilary Winston’s idea won out. The movie is being described as an “imaginative family comedy with plenty of heart” and will take cues from movies likeEnchanted,SplashandBig.
Amy Schumercame to prominence as a comedian and broke out as a star in Hollywood last year with her comedyTrainwreck, which she wrote and starred in. Her career up to this point doesn’t exactly point to her as an obvious choice forBarbie, as her comedy isn’t what one would call family friendly and her only movie was R-rated. Plus, her Comedy Central showInside Amy Schumerwas also quite the opposite of family friendly. However, given the idea that Sony has for this movie, she may very well be just what a movie like this needs to get everyone on board.Barbieis classically something of a superficial idea, which was a big hurdle the studio had to overcome when it came to cracking this story.
Barbieremains an insanelystrong brand, so there is a potentially big audience for something like this.Mattelreports that theBarbiebrand brings in $3 billion annually for the company, making it one of the biggest toy brands in the world. Sony had aMay 12, 2017, release date for the movie pegged for the live-actionBarbiemovie, but without a director and a script rewrite coming, that date seems pretty unrealistic.Walter F. Parkes,Laurie MacDonald, andAmy Pascalare set to produce the movie, but no director’s names have been thrown out yet. In any case, after a long time in development, it seems like this movie is finally getting some traction and could be heading in a very interesting direction. We will be sure to keep you up to date as more details become available.
