Amy Schumer is reportedly close to being cast as Barbie in the upcoming live action film based on a doll.
In a PG plot sure to set off empowerment alarms everywhere, the movie involves Schumer’s Barbie character being booted from the town of Barbieland for not meeting the town’s standards. Barbie expands her horizons, enters the real world and various lessons about self-esteem and body image are learned.
Deadline describes it as “a fish-out-of-water story reminiscent of films like Splash and Big,” intended as a comedic twist on what people traditionally expect of Barbie. For the studio, Schumer’s polarizing brand of self-critical humor, seemed like the perfect atypical vehicle for the movie’s message of self-love:
Given her edgy stand-up comedy and her movie breakthrough writing and starring in the R-rated Trainwreck, what makes Schumer the right actress to play the embodiment of a beloved toyline that for years featured a doll with impossibly perfect physical proportions? Aside from the fact that she has Barbie hair, Schumer’s growing stature as a role model for female empowerment fits perfectly with how the film will exploit Barbie’s evolution into dolls of different sizes and shapes.
No word on whether Schumer’s Barbie will happily binge drink and get to have one-night stands. Sony Pictures and the movie’s producers—which include former Sony chairman Amy Pascal—also expect to hire a female director for the project.
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Production starts next spring, with a summer 2018 release. Who’s playing Ken?
