Barbie is coming to live-action, and the project gets more interesting every time we learn something new about it. For one, Margot Robbie will star as Barbie herself, along with producing under her company LuckyChap Entertainment, which has seriously a great track record between making I, Tonya, Birds of Prey and Promising Young Woman. Lady Bird and Little Women’s Greta Gerwig co-wrote and is directing the movie. Oh, and now Simu Liu is involved.
Yes, the star of Marvel’s big hit Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is currently in negotiations to be in the Barbie movie alongside Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling and America Ferrera, per The Hollywood Reporter. We don’t know what role Simu Liu is being eyed for, but it’s not Ken. (Gosling will have that pleasure).
Simu Liu found his breakout role in the Canadian comedy series Kim’s Convenience, but now he’s hit the big leagues as the star of a Marvel property. Late last year, the actor became Shang-Chi, and the movie was among 2021’s biggest commercial hits. Liu will reprise his role in an upcoming Shang-Chi sequel, and now we expect to see him alongside some big stars for the live-action take on the popular doll.
Mattel Films has been trying to make a Barbie movie for years, with previous iterations placing Amy Schumer and Anne Hathaway at the forefront of the project. After those versions were scrapped, Margot Robbie got on board in 2018 and has been actively part of getting a new iteration of the movie off the ground.
Greta Gerwig and her partner Noah Baumbach (who previously worked together on Frances Ha and Marriage Story) are co-writing a script for the Barbie movie. This is super off-brand for the creatives since they’ve written very intimate passion projects in the past. We have to wonder what their take on the doll will be. Margot Robbie has previously said that the filmmakers have “subverted” what we might expect from a Barbie movie.
It’s great to hear Simu Liu join such an inspired project following his heightened success from Shang-Chi. The 32-year-old actor also recently wrote a book coming out this spring called We Were Dreamers: An Immigrant Superhero Origin Story. On the film front, the actor will also star alongside Mark Wahlberg in a dog movie called Arthur the King and a romance with Philipa Soo called One True Loves.
Barbie is still in pre-production, but given that a cast is being assembled and much of the actors have wrapped their previous other projects, I’d imagine Barbie is getting ready to get its cameras rolling sometime this year. While we wait to see Simi Liu’s Barbie role, you can check out the actor in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings with a Disney+ subscription and keep up with the 2022 movies coming up next.