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The new Barbie movie used so much pink paint on set that it caused an international shortage

Lacrystal Parker

Story by sbhaimiya@insider.com (Sawdah Bhaimiya)

courtesy of insider.com

Greta Gerwig, the director of "Barbie," insisted that everything on set had to be pink. Warner Bros. Pictures© Warner Bros. Pictures


Greta Gerwig's new "Barbie" movie pays homage to the doll's iconic color by covering the set in pink paint, apparently causing an international shortage, according to the interiors magazine Architectural Digest.


Photo: Jaap Buitendijk/ Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

A view of The Barbie Way Cul-de-Sac, with a painted backdrop of the San Jacinto Mountains beyond.


Gerwig said in an email to Architectural Digest that she hired the production designer Sarah Greenwood and the set decorator Katie Spencer to design the Barbie Dreamhouse — a dollhouse the character lives in — at Warner Bros. Studio in Levaesden, just outside of London.


Photo: Jaap Buitendijk/ Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures Barbie’s bedroom features a heart-shaped bed dressed in a sequined coverlet.


The director — who brought classic tales like "Snow White" and "Little Women" to the big screen — insisted that everything on set had to be pink because "maintaining the 'kid-ness' was paramount."

"I wanted the pinks to be very bright, and everything to be almost too much," she said adding that she didn't want to forget "what made me love Barbie when I was a little girl."


Photo: Jaap Buitendijk/ Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures On the second floor, Barbie’s walk-in closet features toy-box display cases pinned with outfits.


"The world ran out of pink," she told Architectural Digest.

Gerwig said wanted to create a feeling of "authentic artificiality" for the set and even used a hand-painted backdrop of the sky and the mountains rather than CGI.

The hotly anticipated movie is set to hit theaters on July 21 and features a star-studded cast, including Margot Robbie as Barbie; Ryan Gosling as her boyfriend, Ken; Emma Mackey; and Kate McKinnon.


A recently released trailer shows that the color pink wasn't just reserved for outfits and furniture as a pink hue was also added to the scenery and landscape.

In one clip, the Barbie Dreamhouse could be seen featuring a pink slide that descended into a pool, a pink shower, a pink bed, and lots of other pink accessories.

Trailers and promotion around the movie have accelerated interest in the "Barbiecore" aesthetic and sent shoppers into a frenzy to get their hands on pink outfits and items, according to the fashion-search platform Lyst. The "Barbiecore" hashtag on TikTok, for example, has 342.3 million views.





 
 
 

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