“If you’re scared to be going up against us”: Margot Robbie Didn’t Back Down When Oppenheimer Producer Wanted Her To Move Barbie Release Date
2023’s highly anticipated movie Greta Gerwig’s Barbie starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling was not only based on the eponymous fashion dolls by Mattel but was also the first live-action Barbie movie after various animated movies had graced the big screen.
Barbie’s clash with Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer starring Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. was the talk of the industry at the time and their clash was dubbed as Barbenheimer which encouraged the audience to watch both movies on the same day. Both Barbie and Oppenheimer received positive reviews from the critics and the audience and Barbie became the highest-grossing movie of 2023 as well as the highest-grossing movie by a solo female director. But did you know Oppenheimer producer wanted to avoid this phenomenal clash at the box office? Let’s find out.
Margot Robbie reveals Oppenheimer producer asked her to shift Barbie’s release date
Actress Margot Robbie who appeared alongside Cillian Murphy at Variety’s Actors on Actors conversation presented by AIR revealed that she got a call from Oppenheimer’s producer Charles Roven who had asked her to change the date of her movie so that they could avoid the clash.
Robbie said to Murphy,
“One of your producers, Chuck Roven, called me, because we worked together on some other project (The Suicide Squad). And he was liked, ‘I think you guys should move your date.’ And I was like, ‘We’re not moving our date. If you’re scared to be up against us, then you move your date.’ And he was like, ‘We’re not moving our date. I just think it’d be better for you to move.’ And I was like, ‘We are not moving’”.
Robbie continued that she thinks it’s a great pairing, perfect double billing, Oppenheimer and Barbie to which Murphy agreed and said it was a good instinct. The actress who has received praise for portraying Barbie on-screen added that the fact that people were going and being like they should watch Oppenheimer first and then Barbie, she could only think that people like everything.
Margot Robbie also mentioned that the audience was excited for the movie from Christopher Nolan and Great Gerwig and to get them at the same time was exciting for them.
Also read: Margot Robbie Reveals if Barbie Will Ever Become a Trilogy With Ryan Gosling
Margot Robbie talks about prepping for playing Barbie
The actress during her conversation with Cillian Murphy talked about how she prepared herself to play Barbie adding that it was so weird to prep for her as a character noting that her usual tools didn’t apply to this character. She added,
“I work with an acting coach, and I work with a dialect coach, and I work with a movement coach, and I read everything and I watch all the things. I rely on animal work a lot. I was maybe 45 minutes into pretending to be a flamingo or whatever, and was I was like it’s not working.”
Robbie revealed that she didn’t want her character to be seen as dumb and ditzy but she’s also not meant to know everything as she was meant to be completely naïve and ignorant. She said the director found an episode on This is American Life where it was a woman who can’t introspect, who doesn’t have the voice in her head that’s constantly narrating life the way everyone does. That helped the actress to prepare for the role.
