Barbie film required so much pink paint that there was a worldwide shortage.
Sarah Greenwood, the film’s production designer, claims that ‘the world ran out of pink’ during the construction of Barbie land and life-size reproductions of the doll’s Dream house. Greta Gerwig’s upcoming Barbie film required so much pink paint during construction that it wiped out an entire company’s global supply.
Gerwig and the film’s production designer Sarah Greenwood spoke to Architectural Digest about the creation of Barbie land, which is nearly all bright pink, from the life size copies of the doll’s renowned “Dreamhouse” to the highways and lampposts.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: WEMA Bank Sits With Shareholders To Pocket N3.85bn
Greenwood, a six-time Oscar contender, stated in the interview that the picture had produced an international shortage of pink paint. “The world ran out of pink,” she explained.
While several media sites reported the claim unqualifiedly, Lauren Proud, vice-president of global marketing at Rosco, the paint firm utilized in the film, provided additional background to the Los Angeles Times.
Proud stated that the film “used as much paint as we had,” but said that Barbie’s production had coincided with wider global supply chain issues during Covid-19, as well as extreme weather in Texas in early 2021, which had disrupted critical components used to produce the paint.
“There was this shortage, and then we gave them everything we could — I don’t know if they can claim credit,” she said, admitting, though, that “they did clean us out on paint.”
In an interview with Architectural Digest, Gerwig explained that the bright pink color was important in “maintaining the ‘kid-ness'” of the film’s aesthetic, and that Barbie land was inspired by the Kaufmann House in Palm Springs, Wayne Thiebaud paintings, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, and An American in Paris.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: NAFDAC: 70% Of Nigerian Food Exports Are Rejected Overseas
“I wanted the pinks to be very bright, and everything to be almost too much,” Gerwig explained, noting that she didn’t want to “forget what made me love Barbie when I was a little girl.”
The set designers had just enough paint to complete the picture, which was largely shot at Warner Bros Studios Leavesden in the United Kingdom.
With only a few mysterious teasers and fewer than two months till the premiere of the live-action “Barbie” film, spectators are still unsure how the story will evolve. However, the production crew has begun to share details about the film, including how they induced an international pink paint shortage.
In a recent Architectural Digest profile, production designer Sarah Greenwood, set decorator Katie Spencer, and director Greta Gerwig explain that they set out “to capture what was so ridiculously fun” about Barbie’s world, particularly Barbie’s Dream house.
“I wanted the pinks to be very bright, and I wanted everything to be almost too much,” Gerwig explained. She stated that “the ‘kid-ness’ was paramount” — recreating the idea of never forgetting “what it was like to be a kid.”
“Why walk down the stairs when you can just slide into your pool?” Why go up stairs when you can take an elevator that matches your outfit?” Gerwig stated.
Barbie’s world has to become just that – Barbie’s world — in order to attain that whimsy. The only way the production team thought they could complete the objective was to construct a universe of pink objects, sets, garments, and anything else that could be placed within the frame of the picture.
That’s when Greenwood realized she had to get that distinctive shade from Rosco until there was nothing left. “The world ran out of pink,” the production designer explained.
Greenwood, Gerwig, and the team erected a set on the Warner Bros. lot in London before running Rosco out of pink paint. “There was this shortage,” Proud explained, “and then we gave them everything we could.” On July 21, fans will be able to enter Barbie’s pink world.
