New character posters for Barbie have revealed that the upcoming film will feature multiple versions of Barbie and Ken, including ones played by Dua Lipa and Simu Liu.Shared on the official Barbie Twitter account, the one-sheets confirm which actors will be stepping into the plastic shoes of Barbie and Ken alongside Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, who will play the classic versions of the Mattel dolls, respectively. The posters also revealed the different careers the many Barbies have chosen, such as president (Issa Rae), lawyer (Sharon Rooney) and mermaid (Dua Lipa), among others. Helen Mirren, who recently appeared in Shazam! Fury of the Gods, has also been added to the film's cast, with her poster revealing that she will serve as the narrator.
The character posters have also confirmed that Michael Cera and Emerald Fennell will be playing Alan and Midge, the best friends of Ken and Barbie, respectively. The two dolls have a shared history, as they were often marketed as a couple by Mattel, even marrying in the 1990s. With Fennell's Midge seemingly pregnant in her character poster, it looks like Barbie will be adapting the doll's most controversial storyline, which saw Mattel release a pregnant Midge doll that came with a magnetic removable womb. Some consumers believed the doll was inappropriate for children and that it promoted teen pregnancy. Mattel also received complaints for the doll not wearing a wedding ring, despite being married to Alan. With the Barbie fashion doll line almost 65 years old, it remains to be seen what other storied moments from the franchise might make their way into the upcoming film.
Barbie Is Banished From Barbieland
While the first Barbie trailer didn't reveal too much about the film, an official synopsis confirmed that the upcoming romantic comedy film would follow Robbie's Barbie doll as she is expelled from Barbieland "for not being perfect enough," leading to the doll setting off on "an adventure in the real world." This is likely where America Ferrera and Ariana Greenblatt's human characters will come into play, as well as Will Ferrell's undisclosed character, who is reportedly playing the CEO of a toy company. Based on the character posters, Connor Swindells (Sex Education) and Jamie Demetriou (Fleabag) will also be working at the same toy company as an intern and "suit," respectively.
Barbie Goes Head-to-Head with Oppenheimer
While anticipation is high for Barbie, the Warner Bros. film will be opening in theaters opposite Universal Pictures and Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer. The film stars Cillian Murphy as American theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, who is often credited as the "father of the atomic bomb" for his role in the Manhattan Project. Similar to Barbie, Nolan has assembled an impressive ensemble cast for Oppenheimer, with Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, Rami Malek, Florence Pugh, Benny Safdie, Josh Hartnett and Kenneth Branagh all part of the supporting cast. Oppenheimer will also be Nolan's first film not to be distributed by Warner Bros. domestically or internationally since 2000's Memento.
Directed by Greta Gerwig from a screenplay she co-wrote with Noah Baumbach, Barbie opens in theaters on July 21.
Source: Twitter