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BARBIE (2023): Helen Mirren Attached to Gerwig’s Scripted Fantasy

Helen Mirren Barbie

Helen Mirren Cast in Barbie

Helen Mirren joins the cast of Greta Gerwig’s fantasy comedy adventure film Barbie.

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It seems fitting somehow that a film featuring the iconic fashion doll Barbie should premiere at the peak of summer — July 20th in some countries, 21st in the United States. After all, throughout their first wave of popularity in the Sixties, didn’t Barbie and her ‘steady’ Ken seem most like themselves during the carefree days of sun and surf, listening to the Beach Boys?

And it’s really not so surprising that Helen Mirren, an icon of a shining career in her own right, should chip in. Mirren is a truly game performer, pretty much ready for anything. After all, didn’t she manage to pull Caligula, kicking and screaming, out of muckraking into something akin to artistic dignity?

It would be redundant to cite Ms. Mirren’s stellar career, but it deserves at least some highlights. Like many British performers, she got her start on stage. She performed in various Shakespeare productions in the West End, and eventually landed a Broadway role in A Month in the Country by Turgenev. In films, her roles included Morgana in Excalibur, a Soviet officer in 2010, Queen Charlotte in The Madness of King George, and more recently, as Elizabeth II in The Queen. In 2015, she achieved what few others had — “The Triple Crown of Acting” — to say nothing of her BAFTA and Olivier awards. She made her indelible mark on television as well, as detective Jane Tennison on the series Prime Suspect and now, Yellowstone.

Of course, films about and starring action figures have a long, uneven precedent. But the Barbie phenomenon, now 63 years old, means something special to the American identity — a commentary on female role models for starters. It’s accurate to say that Barbie has evolved with our culture, albeit with a series of back-slides and compromises, as issues of skin color and career choices were later addressed.

The story of Barbie the fashion doll itself is the stuff of movies. Ruth Handler, then President of Mattel Toys, is credited with the creation of the Barbie universe. And quite a Big Bang it eventually turned out to be, with over one billion Barbies (and all her accessories) sold to date. For an in-depth look at the impact Barbie has had on society, an excellent documentary, Tiny Shoulders: Rethinking Barbie, is available for streaming on Hulu.

On a slightly darker note, research has shown that Barbie’s original proportions applied to a living body habitus is bizarre. It would require the famous fashion plate to walk on all fours to accommodate a 39-inch bust topping an 18-inch waist. At the same time, Barbie’s broader impact is also symbolic, a social abstraction. And where will Greta Gerwig, as director, along with co-writer Noah Baumbach, decide to take this film, marketed as a comedy/adventure. Will it pay some homage to the Barbie of the ages, or bring her more modern spins to the story?

Ms. Mirren numbers among a large, impressive cast, among them Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken. One thing is a sure bet: wherever she finds herself in Barbie Land, a top-notch sun-and-fun performance is certain to follow.

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Barbie will be released in U.S. theaters through Warner Bros. on July 21, 2023. Want up-to-the-minute notifications? FilmBook staff members publish articles by Email, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, Reddit, and Flipboard.

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David McDonald

David Erasmus McDonald was born in Baltimore into a military family, traveling around the country during his formative years. After a short stint as a film critic for a local paper in the Pacific Northwest and book reviewer, he received an MA in Creative Writing from Wilkes University, mentored by Ross Klavan and Richard Uhlig. Currently he lives in the Hudson Valley, completing the third book of a supernatural trilogy entitled “Shared Blood.”
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