Amy Schumer says she left the Barbie film due to creative differences
“They definitely didn’t want to do it the way I wanted to do it," the Life & Beth star says
Aux News Barbie
Nearly five years after stepping away from the project, Amy Schumer has opened up about why she left the upcoming Barbie feature. She cites not “scheduling conflicts” (which is what her initial statement said back in 2017), but vast creative differences with the overseeing studio at the time, Sony.
“[The studio] definitely didn’t want to do it the way I wanted to do it, the only way I was interested in doing it,” Schumer says in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
She then goes on to explain that, at the time, she and co-writer Kim Caramele wanted Barbie to be an “ambitious inventor,” and Sony reportedly asked if the invention Barbie created could be high heels made of Jell-O, because why not? Further cementing the idea that they truly understand every woman’s psyche, the company sent Schumer a pair of Manolo Blahniks once the deal was sealed.
“The idea that that’s just what every woman must want, right there, I should have gone, ‘You’ve got the wrong gal,’” Schumer says.
Once Schumer exited the project, Anne Hathaway was in talks to take over the role before the role of Barbie ultimately went to Margot Robbie. Writing duties have since been passed over to Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach, with Gerwig directing. In addition to Robbie, the film’s cast features Ryan Gosling as Ken, America Ferrera, and Simu Liu.
After leaving Barbie, Schumer shares that she felt her career was “getting a little stagnant” which spurred her to leave her longtime UTA representatives in 2018.
“I loved those guys, but I just didn’t feel support for, like, ‘This is who Amy is and she’s not going to be this other thing,’” she explains. “I felt like I was disappointing my team by not being Barbie.”
Schumer is now set to co-host the 94th Academy Awards alongside Wanda Sykes and Regina Hall from LA’s Dolby Theatre on March 27. She also stars alongside Michael Cera in the new Hulu rom-com series Life & Beth, which premieres on March 18.
68 Comments
Guessing Amy wanted to make a very mildly subversive Barbie movie and the execs didn’t want that because, come on, it’s Barbie.
And ironically now the Barbie film seems, at least on the outside, more than a little subversive.
I read the leaked script just the other day and this is some pretty great stuff;“Hey, I’m so sorry to do this but I won’t be able to come to the party. I just can’t. I got all dressed up but I just can’t shake this funk I’m in. I’m freaking out. I’m back to thinking about that girl from four years ago. I know it sounds crazy but I think she was trying to tell me something. I’m sorry. I’m stuck. Anyway, give me a call when you can. Oh, I’m sorry. This is Barbie. But you knew that. You have caller ID. I’m so stupid. Good bye.”
Zero chance that Gret Gerwig and Noah Baumbach signed on for a Barbie that isn’t at least a little subversive.
For sure. That sounds way more off-script to the Barbie media profile than anything Schumer has ever done, to be honest. Schumer’s made her career out of (at its best) skewering and (at its worst) indulging in the cultural expectations of White American womanhood, so at least it works on paper as meta commentary. The current team seems like a total swerve in tonal intention.
I don’t get the sense that anyone knows what they want out of a Barbie movie—well, aside from Mattel, who presumably want it to sell dolls. I’m guessing they’re shooting for an Enchanted-style (partial) deconstruction that pokes (extremely gentle) fun at the premise without invalidating it, because hey, dolls to sell. That’s going to be a tricky balance to pull off.
Because I had two girls who were the right ages when it went up on Netflix, the “Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse” animated series from a few years back was suprisingly and exactly this. It wasn’t so much a full deconstruction, but it was definitely self-aware and surprisingly funny (at least to an exhausted parent).
Came here to say this. The Barbie show is surprisingly not bad and at times even hilariously self aware. It’s the only thing that makes me think the movie may not be 100% DOA.
The Christmas movie wasn’t atrocious either.
I was thinking the same thing. Life in the Dreamhouse not only poked fun at how ridiculous Barbie was (the crazy number of jobs, the giant wardrobe) but it was also a pretty decent parody of that Housewife/MTV style reality shows with the weird music cues, the forced drama and the confessional scenes with people’s names printed on the screen.Plus it was kind of funny that all the characters realized they were plastic.
Yeah, the reality TV pokes were great. My recollection is that it struck me as a very Internet style of humor writing, and in the good sense of that.
if you’d told younger AJVia that he’d one day be watching BARBIE LIFE IN THE DREAMHOUSE with his 5 yr old and laughing his old rear off, well…old AJ probably would have Cobain’d himself then and there.Dad AJ of the current year? Finds that joke highly insensitive, inappropriate and unnecessary, because things change. Especially people. But not Barbie. Barbie never changes, because, you know, she’s a plastic doll, and this just kinda went nowhere besides “That show is surprisingly funny for kids and parents to have to watch”I’ll be here all week (forever, really) and try the veal, folks.
Yeah, like…the brand has been so tied to bland consumer vapidity that it’d take a full-on reinvention to invest it with any kind of narrative.
love that she presents being gifted a pair of expensive high heels for writing the barbie movie as some kind of weird thing. it’s like the only time it makes sense.
If you don’t want a pair of Manolo Blahniks, do you really have any business working on a Barbie movie?
Was this right about the time she was being outed for borrowing material? One might even imagine scenario where the executives pitched it so she would leave on purpose. I did not see the movie, but cannot imagine a scenario where Amy would be more suited than Margot for Barbie on a couple of levels.
These are all reasonably smart adults, but they can’t figure out how to work together and tell stories that aren’t just commercials for IP. And these are the adults that Hollywood again and again tries to have us believe are the best and brightest in Hollywood. But they’re not able to say “no” to the Barbie movie? What kind of blackmail do they have on Baumbach and Gerwig that they would agree to such a film? Who the fuck is in charge?
Blackmail? All they have to do is offer huge bags of money.
Ah yes, Barbie, the well-known ambitious inventor. It’s fun to dress her up in her lab coat and pose her inside Barbie’s Dream Lab.
Brilliant and acerbic inventor Barbie and her grandson Ken go on all kinds of whacky sci-fi adventures.
Malibu Barbie Dream T.A.R.D.I.S?
No way that’ll happen….https://www.amazon.com/Barbie-Doctor-Thirteenth-Screwdriver-Collector/dp/B07L5272D2Oh, uh, er….
That seems like something that may be worth a shitload in 10 years.
It’s pinker on the inside.
LOL
I mean, let’s face it, she’s as well known as an inventor as anything else out there. We’ve got Astronaut Barbie, and Equestrienne Barbie, and Shrimp on the Barbie, and President Barbie, and Cheerleader Barbie, and Veterinarian Barbie, and Soccer Coach Barbie, and USAF Pilot Barbie (twice, including a stint in the Thunderbirds!) and Firefighter Barbie…
It sounds weird to say, but it’s not that weird. I read an opinion piece years ago when one of the periodic arguments about whether Barbies are good for girls’ psyches came around again. The author claimed that the way that she played with her Barbies was a lot more interesting than the packaging would suggest. She basically said, “my Barbies did all sorts of cool stuff. They had jobs and houses and friends and everything.” I’m a guy, but I can see it.For real-deal empty-headed female stereotypes, nothing beats Bratz.
She wanted it to be more like “Doctor Zhivago,” but they were aiming for something along the lines of “The Seventh Seal.”
I can guarantee she hasn’t seen either movie.
Amy prefers her films based on a classic line of toy doll movies to have the same gritty realism as GI Joe’s movies. Stand your ground, Schumer. #PrinciplesMatter.
GMG Union: We fought for trans inclusive healthcare, but continue to use cisnormative language in our articles.
Every version of this movie sounds like dog shit.
Movie stars…
The weirdest thing to me is the gifting of the Manolo Blahniks shoes. I know Schumer probably has enough money so high-end luxury shoes aren’t that big of a deal, but most women I know wouldn’t want something like that picked out for them sight-unseen. Then again, maybe I should start hanging out with more Hollywood celebs.
Yeah, I’m SO sure that “most women” would turn down ridiculously expensive shoes.Especially considering that they most likely just grabbed any old pair off the pile and sent them with a note that said “here’s a random shoe gift, if they don’t fit you can shove them up your ass”.
The [for real this time] reason Amy Schumer departed Sony’s Barbie film project: Bc or……maybe Schumer’s deftness manipulating a studio’s precious ip?
Do you speak English?
If she was intending to do anything creative she probably should not have been involved with the fucking Barbie movie in the first place
Kinda hoping it was a big misunderstanding and she wanted to do a biopic of Klaus Barbie.
Heh…well done.
They should just re-release Legally Blonde but change the name and dub in people saying “Barbie” instead of the whatever the main character’s name is.
Anyone who use to love Amy and then/now can’t stand here know the moment you turned on her.I loved her Comedy central show (the take it off makeup song I will never not love and 12 angry men skecth as well). I think for me it was when her and “bestie” Jennifer Lawrence yelled at the reporter after the oscar’s for using his phone. Like they couldn’t think that maybe he was a foreign reporter trying to get the pharasing of his question right.She seemed to be full of herself at that period in time.
well, she made a human mistake, so obviously she deserves to be forgotten, hated, and maybe burned at the stake. OBVIOUSLY.Celebrities: they’re just like us! (Except when they do things like other people do, say, getting mad in public, then we put them on a platform of superhumanish identity that cannot be forgiven for anything we dislike.)
Finger Blasters was a great commercial from that show, but most of her sketches like her act are forgettable. They tried to push her as the next big thing and she fizzled out quick.Leaving a movie is probably not the smartest move for someone that most people have forgotten about.
Yeah I loved her show too. That 12 Angry Men sketch was amazing.I never started HATING her, it was just for 2 years or so she was suddenly EVERYWHERE. She had a million projects in the works. Everyone was writing and talking about her. EVERYONE had opinions. Don’t even get me started on the “she’s not even attractive!” crowd. Fuck you pathetic turds.Anyways, for me yeah it was the constantly being swamped with her and the less than positive things started happening like the reporter incident you mention, and the apparent joke stealing, and defending one of her writers for… I can’t even recall. Either racist shit or sexual misconduct shit.
I caught an interview a year or so ago and she seems a lot more grounded these days now that shes got a family. Fame fucks you up pretty hard.
That’s good to hear because I want to like her. Because the whole attack on her looks from a bunch of people hiding behind an egg photo annoyed me as well and I liked her even more.But yeah maybe it was her everywhere and the Oscar’s thing I mentioned where I didn’t want to see her anymore. Hopefully that changes for me.I will say I use to like Whitney cummings as well but if you have seen her twitter, it’s something else as she has defended some awful comics recently.
Oh I’ve always thought Whitney Cummings was garbage, not just by her material/writing but the type of people she’s friends with.
I thought she was funny at 1st but then I saw who she was buddies with and her defending them non stop and I knew she was a trash person herself.
Let’s see. Amy Schumer is not funny, attractive, or relevant, and Margot Robie is all of those things, all else being equal. So, why is this news?
uh, many people would disagree with all three of your statements, there, and also add “You’re a d-bag POS as well”.You know, all things being equal.Why is that news to anyone besides Dan? SPOILER ALERT: It’s not.
So, this isn’t news because Amy is fat?Ummmmmm.
Listen to “Cutting” if you think she’s not funny.
Nailed it!
Harley Quinn is funny?!
Sure you didn’t just describe yourself, bud?
Pics and your resume or stfu
Like Jem and Charlie’s Angels (2019), Barbie sounds like one of those projects where people want the brand-recognition money but are mildly embarrassed about the brand itself.
She’s gotta be a little bit “WTF” now because she won’t get to work with the very talented Greta Gerwig. But otherwise looks like she made the right call.Also, she can send the Manolos to Mrs. F. maybe they’re the same size.
Reads “They definitely didn’t want to do it the way I wanted to do it”Leaps into comments section “What, not funny?”Proceeds to not read article
It just sounds like they couldn’t get a strong enough idea.
The primary “creative difference” was that the studio wanted this movie to be something approaching “Watchable.”
Why would a company who is only interested in selling toys want Schumer’s mean spirited subversion of their IP?Maybe they just got turned off by her trying to shoehorn in as many dick jokes as possible?
Bless Margot Robbie. She’s like the Winston Zeddemore of Hollywood.
We… will live on.
They didn’t want Barbie to be a 300 lb. tart who’s working vocabulary consists of “vagina vagina vagina”?
Cleverrrrr duh durrr duh durrrr
Bc you already have a lock on obsessively making unfunny jokes?
Barbie’s a fashion thing. O.K. shoes it is!