Barbie star Hari Nef shares heartfelt letter to Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie
"BARBIE looms large over every American woman," wrote the Transparent star.
One of the stars of the upcoming Barbie movie, Hari Nef, has shared part of a letter she wrote to the film’s creator, Greta Gerwig.
Nef (You and Transparent) was revealed to be in the film’s cast on Tuesday (4 April) when the film’s Twitter account dropped a series of fun new posters.
In hers, Hari is seen smiling with the image’s note reading: “This Barbie is a doctor.”
“i had big feelings about wanting to join this film”
Posting on Instagram on Tuesday Hari revealed there was a chance she might have not been able to be in the movie due to a scheduling conflict.
“So i wrote greta and margot a letter essentially begging them to fudge the schedule a little bit, as i had big feelings about wanting to join this film.”
Hari then shared a part of what she sent Gerwig and Robbie.
“This is a big movie, made by a team whose work has played no small role in cultivating my love of sitting in the dark in front of big screens for an hour or two. But that’s just a part of why I want–my heart says “need”–to join in the making of this film.
“Identity politics and cinema aren’t my favorite combination, but the name BARBIE looms large over every American woman. Barbie’s the standard; she’s The Girl; she’s certainly THE doll.”
“No doll matters more than Barbie”
Hari recalled her girlfriends calling themselves “the dolls”. She also recognised the origins of the term from the New York ballroom scene of the 80s and 90s.
“Maybe it’s a bid to ratify our femininity, to smile and sneer at the standards we’re held to as women,” Hari continued adding it was partly a joke. She also explained the meaningful significance to her.
“But underneath the word ‘doll’ is the shape of a woman who is not quite a woman–recognizable as such, but still a fake. “Doll” is fraught, glamorous; she is, and she isn’t.
“We call ourselves “the dolls” in the face of everything we know we are, never will be, hope to be. We yell the word because the word matters. And no doll matters more than Barbie.”
It’s (part of) a heartfelt letter that goes to show the impact Barbie has had over the course of her life.
As well as the new posters, a second teaser trailer was also released on Tuesday. It gave us a much greater idea of what kind of camp spectacle we can expect.
Margot Robbie meets other versions of Barbie while we’re also introduced to Ryan Gosling’s Ken and his own variants.
Robbie and Gosling’s characters flirt innocently before embarking on a wild-looking adventure to the ‘Real World’.
The reaction has already been predictably wild, with many on social media picking up on all the trailer’s colourful details.
We cannot wait for this film! We’re more excited than we were for M3gan!
Barbie will be released on 21 July, 2023.