ABC/Rick Rowell(LOS ANGELES) — The words “Barbie” and “thought provoking” might not always fit together like the blonde bombshell did into her pink Corvette, but that’s exactly what Margot Robbie is going for with her live-action Barbie movie. 

The Oscar-nominated actress is an obvious choice to play the flesh-and-blood incarnation of the popular Mattel toy, but as a producer she deliberately chose less obvious choices to, respectively, write and direct it: Lady Bird‘s Greta Gerwig and Marriage Story’s Noah Baumbach.

“Something like Barbie where the [intellectual property or IP], the name itself, people immediately have an idea of, ‘Oh, Margot is playing Barbie, I know what that is,'” Robbie tells The Hollywood Reporter, “but our goal is to be like, ‘Whatever you’re thinking, we’re going to give you something totally different — the thing you didn’t know you wanted.'”

She says of her production company LuckyChap, “We like the things that feel a little left of center.”

Robbie says, “Now, can we truly honor the IP and the fan base and also surprise people? Because if we can do all that and provoke a thoughtful conversation, then we’re really firing on all cylinders.”

The film, in which Barbie enters the real world, is still in development.

By Stephen Iervolino
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