The One Barbie Line That Immediately Sold Kate McKinnon On The Movie
Weird Barbie is just one of the many clever concepts in Greta Gerwig's record-breaking "Barbie." Every child who played with Barbies had that one doll with an extra bit of wear and tear. You can clearly see that Weird Barbie has been "played with too much"; she resembles a kooky David Bowie with her spiky haircut, colored doodles on her face, and paint-splattered, baggy pink dress. Her body is constantly twisted into a split. She resides in a jagged, sharp-angled home inspired by the classic horror film "Psycho" on the outskirts of Barbieland.
In an interview with Sirius XM, Kate McKinnon jokes that Weird Barbie, which she describes as a "demented, avant-garde baby doll" mixed with a "grizzled crone," was tailor-made for her. "It wasn't a very big stretch for me ... I have that in my back pocket. I've been waiting. I've just been waiting for the camera to roll on that," she quipped.
There was one specific line — unfortunately, removed from the final cut — that convinced Kate McKinnon she was born to play Weird Barbie. In the script draft, the character tells Stereotypical Barbie, "I can't help you on account of the giddy-up in my hip." This line made McKinnon realize that Greta "just wants me to do a cameo as myself." Greta Gerwig and Kate McKinnon share a similar sense of humor, one that is offbeat, quick-witted, and even goes back to their early working relationship before they became famous.
'We're doing exactly what we were doing at 19'
People reports that Greta Gerwig and Kate McKinnon have a history of performing together. Decades before "Barbie," they were both involved with theatre and improvisational comedy in college, including Columbia University's famed annual Varsity Show. Greta Gerwig graduated from Barnard College, and Kate McKinnon graduated from Columbia University, both in 2006. According to Gerwig, they would frequently work together on creative projects as students, and "Barbie" was a fantastic and unexpected opportunity for them to combine their talents once again:
"We made really wonderfully strange musicals together when we were in college. We were just 19 making a weird musical together and thinking like, 'I hope someone will wanna work with us one day.' Then cut to 39 and to just be calling her and saying, 'Do you wanna be in this big thing?' ... We just both started laughing because there was something about it where in some ways, hopefully, we've grown and changed and developed as artists and in other ways, we're doing exactly what we were doing at 19."
Their collaboration in "Barbie" is an amazing full-circle moment that makes their partnership in the film even more meaningful. Having worked together in the past, Greta Gerwig and Kate McKinnon are on the same comedic wavelength — understanding exactly the type of eccentric humor required for the story and the character of Weird Barbie. McKinnon playfully blends subtle and broad comedic elements, delivers lines with flawless timing, and fully immerses herself in the wackiness of a very worn-out yet all-knowing Barbie doll.