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Margot Robbie's ambitious 'Barbie' movie pays homage to '2001: A Space Odyssey' in teaser trailer
Barbie arrives in theaters everywhere on July 21.
Come on, Barbie, let's go party! Warner Bros. Pictures has released the first teaser trailer for its upcoming Barbie film (helmed by Greta Gerwig) and while the footage doesn't give up much in the way of plot, it does pay homage to a seminal sci-fi classic. Narrated by Dame Helen Mirren, the teaser opens at the dawn of time ... sort of. "Since the first little girl ever existed, there have been dolls, but the dolls were always and forever baby dolls," Mirren states in voiceover.
That is until those little girls discover Margot Robbie's Barbie, blocking out the sun like the mysterious monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey. And with that, the children smash their baby dolls to smithereens, ushering in a new age of play-time to the epic tune of "Also sprach Zarathustra." We also get brief glimpses of Ryan Gosling (playing Ken), Issa Rae, and Simu Liu
"Making an obvious Barbie movie would’ve been extremely easy to do, and anything easy to do is probably not worth doing," Robbie — who also produced the feature under her LuckyChap banner — said during an interview with Vanity Fair.
Check out the trailer below:
Written by Gerwig and Noah Baumbach, the big screen translation of the iconic toy line is said to be an Enchanted-esque romp as Barbie leaves her perfect and vibrant world of make-believe for an adventure in ours. Learning that she has escaped, the CEO of Mattel (played by Will Ferrell, who described the character as "insensitive, but weird") seeks to bring her back. Michael Cera, Ariana Greenblatt, America Ferrera, Ncuti Gatwa, Emerald Fennell, Alexandra Shipp, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Kate McKinnon, Rhea Pearlman and more co-star.
"It felt like vertigo, starting to write it, like: ‘Where do you even begin, and what would be the story?’" Gerwig explained last month. "And I think it was that feeling I had was knowing that it would be really interesting terror. Usually that’s where the best stuff is, where you’re like, ‘I am terrified of that.’ Anything where you’re like, ‘This could be a career-ender’ — then you’re like, ‘I should probably do it.’"
Barbie arrives in theaters everywhere Friday, July 21.
Looking for more high-concept genre-busters in the vibe of Barbie (just probably with a bit more murder)? Check out SYFY's Bring It On: Cheer or Die, streaming now on SYFY.
