Amy Schumer rose to meteoric success and fame in 2015, with her “Live at the Apollo” HBO special, her hugely successful Comedy Central sketch show “Inside Amy Schumer” being renewed for season after season, and her Judd Apatow-directed romcom “Trainwreck” opening to massive box office returns, rave reviews and gun violence. This year, she’s been monopolising on that fame, making a movie with Goldie Hawn and one with Jennifer Lawrence (who also happens to be her new best friend), and now, she’s tackling the lead role in a Film based on Mattel’s line of “Barbie” dolls.
Schumer will not be playing Barbie as you know her
Not the role one would expect for the self-proclaimed “c*m dumpster,” but the proposed story promises she’s the perfect casting choice. The script follows a less-than-perfect girl living in Barbieland surrounded by beautiful, perfect “Barbie” people, who is ostracised for not being perfect and finds herself in the real world where she discovers it’s okay to not be perfect and learns to love herself. A lot of Schumer’s philosophies revolve around feeling comfortable in one’s own skin, and that seems to be the message here, so it’s no surprise she’s signing on.
The screenplay for the new “Barbie” movie was written by Hilary Winston and was handpicked by producers Walter F.
Parkes and Laurie MacDonald ("Catch Me If You Can"), the good people at Mattel, and Amy Pascal (the former Sony head who was outed as a racist in the infamous Guardians of Peace email hack that followed the release of “The Interview”). It is said to be along the lines of “Splash” or “Enchanted” as they are going for that kind of feel with the movie.
Hollywood has been trying to crack a “Barbie” movie for years
Despite an apparent “99% global brand awareness,” Barbie has never been the subject of a film before (unless you count the “Toy Story” sequels, where she plays a supporting role, or her direct-to-DVD animated forays), but that doesn’t mean producers haven’t tried.
Universal once wanted to make a live-action family-friendly “Barbie” film but it never materialised. Just last year, Sony put a fast-track on production of a potential “Barbie” franchise. But now it looks as though they’ve finally figured it out.
