The Barbie movie continues to be an enigma.
Less than two months before its theatrical reveal, most people still are clueless about the plot of the Barbie live-action film. However, while we still don’t know what the storyline will be, what we do know now is how liberal the color pink was used in the production, as it was recently reported that the film has caused an international shortage of pink paint.
Production designer Sarah Greenwood, set decorator Katie Spencer and director Greta Gerwig told a recent Architectural Digest profile that they got creative on a set–they wanted ‘to capture what was so ridiculously fun’ about Barbie’s world.
Gerwig claimed that she wants almost all of the aura on the set bright and colored pink. She also shared that ‘the kid-ness was paramount’– evoking a feeling that made her love a Barbie doll as a young girl.
“I wanted the pinks to be very bright, and everything to be almost too much,” said Gerwig.
“Why walk down stairs when you can slide into your pool? Why trudge up stairs when you take an elevator that matches your dress?” she added.
To achieve the film’s whimsical mood, the production team decided to create a world of pink props, sets, clothes, and anything that was placed within the film’s frame. Greenwood then claimed that the world ‘ran out of pink’ after they obtained signature shades from company Rosco.
Before they depleted Rosco of pink paint, Greenwood, Gerwig, and the team erected a set on the Warner Bros. lot in London — pulling inspirations from Palm Springs’ Kaufmann House, San Francisco Queen Anne Victorian manse, Wayne Thiebaud’s paintings, and from film history like “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” and Gene Kelly’s “An American in Paris.”
After that profile with Greenwood, Gerwig, and the rest of the “Barbie” team, the Los Angeles Times then inquired Rosco if it is true that the former depleted them of signature pink shades. Their VP for global marketing Lauren Proud has confirmed it.
“They did clean us out on paint,” said Proud.
“There was this shortage,” he added, “and then we gave them everything we could.”
Fans from the real world will get to witness Barbie’s pink world on July 21.
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