Warner Bros. Pictures has unveiled the first trailer for Greta Gerwig’s Barbie film starring Margot Robbie as the eponymous Mattel doll.
Showcasing the comedic tone Gerwig is going for with the movie, which she penned with her partner Noah Baumbach, the teaser opens with a parody of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Instead of apes discovering the monolith, however, it’s a group of little girls discovering a Barbie doll. We then get a series of brief flashes of some of the other colorful visuals, including a look at Ryan Gosling’s take on Ken.
“Since the beginning of time, since the first little girl ever existed, there have been dolls,” the teaser opens, narrated by Helen Mirren. “But the dolls were always and forever… baby dolls. Until...”
Plot details have been kept under wraps, but its current iteration has been in development since at least 2019. The film is the first-ever live-action adaptation of the Barbie line of dolls, and is a co-production by Mattel Films, Heyday Films, and Robbie’s banner LuckyChap Entertainment. The star-studded cast is rounded out by Simu Liu, Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, Michael Cera, Connor Swindells, Will Ferrell, Ncuti Gatwa, America Ferrera, and Rhea Perlman, among others.
In an appearance on Dua Lipa’s podcast At Your Service last month, Gerwig said the project was daunting for her to take on. “It was terrifying. I think there’s something about starting from that place where it’s like, ‘Well, anything is possible,’” Gerwig said, noting that it could be a “career-ender” if she doesn’t pull it off. “It felt like vertigo starting to write it. Like, where do you even begin? What would be the story?”
Barbie is set to debut in theaters on July 21, 2023.
