Greta Gerwig's "Barbie" Production Led to International Shortage of Pink Paint

Greta Gerwig’s "Barbie" production used so much pink paint to bring the fantasy world to life that it led to a shortage of color.

The live-action movie stars Margot Robbie as the main Barbie and Ryan Gosling as the original Ken, alongside other co-stars such as Dua Lipa, Issa Rae, Nicola Coughlan, Hari Nef, Kate McKinnon, Emma Mackey, and more as different versions of the doll and various Kens, including Simu Liu.

Other surprise stars include Michael Cera, America Ferrera, Helen Mirren, Will Ferrell, and more.

Gerwig directed the project from a script she co-wrote with Noah Baumbach.

Robbie is also produced the movie through her LuckyChap production company alongside LuckyChap’s Tom Ackerley. 

The movie is also produced by Mattel Films’ Robbie Brenner and Paddington’s David Heyman.

The Barbie project dates back all the way to 2009, with Sony originally lining up Diablo Cody to write the script in 2014. Two years later, Amy Schumer was cast for the titular role from a script by Hilary Winston.

However, the project remained in development until Warner Bros. and Robbie picked it up in 2018, originally aiming for Patty Jenkins on directing duties.

In a recent interview with Architectural Digest, the director opened up about how the live-action movie Land took form and who helped pull off the iconic pink set design in the highly-anticipated movie.

“Maintaining the ‘kid-ness’ was paramount. I wanted the pinks to be very bright, and everything to be almost too much” she said.

Gerwig also noted that it was important to not “forget what made me love Barbie when I was a little girl.” So that’s when she decided to put production designer Sarah Greenwood and set decorator Katie Spencer up for the challenge.

Greenwood told the outlet that to help “make Barbie real through this unreal world,” they took inspiration from Palm Springs’ midcentury modernism.

The production designer previously told IndieWire that “pink became the film’s thesis,” and that when it came to finding the perfect pink, “it was epic dealing with the painters, mixing the right colors.”

But due to construction, Greenwood told the magazine that there ended up being an international shortage of the fluorescent shade of Rosco paint. She added, “The world … ran out of pink.”

Overall, Gerwig said her goal was to capture what was so ridiculously fun about the Dreamhouses in the movie, which is set to hit theaters on July 21.