Over the summer, a number of images and videos from the set of Greta Gerwig's Barbie were leaked online. The film's star Margot Robbie recently said the experience left her “mortified.”
Barbie, the upcoming romantic comedy based on the famous toy line and distributed by Warner Bros., has been generating quite a bit of buzz. Fun female-centred films are a relative rarity in today's action blockbuster-saturated media landscape, and Barbie really began to turn heads when the highly respected Gerwig (Lady Bird and Little Women) and Robbie signed on to the project. Given all this, it's unsurprising that when a number of photos and videos from the Barbie set leaked during production in the summer, they took over the internet for days.
In an interview on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Robbie said that she was “mortified” about the experience. When Fallon showed one of the leaked photos of Robbie as Barbie, she commented, “We look like we’re like laughing and having fun, but we’re dying on the inside. Dying. I was like, this is the most humiliating moment of my life.” The worst part, according to Robbie, was the crowds that gathered to watch the filming. “I knew that we had some exteriors to shoot in L.A. I knew once you were doing exteriors, you’re gonna get [paparazzi'd]. There’s probably going to be a little crowd of people who are going to take notice because, you know, we stand out a little bit in those outfits. So I knew there was going to be a little bit of attention, and probably some photos would get out there, but not like it did. It was like mad. It was like hundreds of people watching all the time.”
It's not surprising to hear that the attention caused issues on set. Filming a movie is hard enough, but with hundreds of people standing and staring at you, no doubt talking and making noise, it can be a serious challenge. This is particularly the case in a movie like Barbie, where Robbie is dressed and acting in a very unconventional and exaggerated way, which she likely felt embarrassed or shy to do in public.
Nevertheless, the set leaks certainly served as a tremendous marketing tool and proved that audience anticipation is very high for the movie. When the images leaked this summer, it even sparked a new fashion trend called “Barbiecore” centered around bright neon-colored and often pink outfits. Audiences can be sure that when the finished movie releases next year it is going to be quite a sensation.
Barbie is scheduled to release on July 21, 2023.