Diablo Cody said she was scrapped Barbie Screenplay, which was supposed to star Amy Schumer , but “damn it” because execs wanted a “reverse Barbie” narrative.
In a new 2017 interview, the Academy Award-winning scribe explains why she thinks the film Unsuccessful collaboration with GQ magazine . Cody said the story she was asked to write didn’t make sense because the discussion about feminism and Barbie was not prepared to deal with the kind of complex contradictions that dolls’ history embodies.
“I think I know why I shit on the bed,” she said. “When I was first hired to do this job, I thought the culture [sic] embraced women or the slut as valid feminist archetypes. If you look up Barbie on TikTok, you’ll find this kind of feminist Wonderful subculture, but in , making this skinny blond white doll a heroine is a tall order.”
Cody basically explained that he was under pressure to deliver “dramatic ‘math is hard,'” according to the magazine. Adam Naiman wrote that her “soulful and idiosyncratic performance” was complemented by comedian and actor Schumer, whose confessional stand-up “gave her a certain counterculture credibility.”
“The idea of an anti-Barbie makes a lot of sense given the feminist rhetoric of a decade ago,” Cody said. “At the time I didn’t really have the freedom to write something that was faithful to the image; they wanted Barbie to be feminist, but I couldn’t figure it out because that wasn’t Barbie.”
Aside from Schumer, another hurdle for her movie to quit at 2017 is The Lego Movie , which opened the door to a certain mix of meta-irony and brand extension that Hollywood wanted to replicate.
“I’ve heard countless mentions of The LEGO Movie being in development and this gives me posed a problem because they did a good job,” she told the magazine. “Whenever I come up with something meta, it’s too much like what they do. It’s a hurdle for me, but enough time has passed now that they can choose [ The Lego Movie antagonist] Will Ferrell as the real-life counterpart of the Barbie movie, no People care.”
Cody said she was genuinely interested in telling Barbie stories about someone who “grew up with Barbie, and these are my first a movie”. But she’s also wary of some well-known, unique directors going down the path of IP storytelling, even if she knows why they’re doing it.
“I wish I could write the PAW Patrol movie every day because believability doesn’t let My kids finished college,” Cody said. “I have made an IP with Barbie and Powerpuff Girls Adjusted a few times, and I’ve given it a lot of thought. I take responsibility for the failure of these attempts, because I do have a specific sound and perspective, but I don’t know how to adjust it yet.”
“I mean, no one really wants to delve into the legends and myths of the hungry hippo,” she continued. “This is not really an art exercise.” 2017 2017
