Everything to know about the Barbie movie before you watch it this weekend

Barbie was first seen in stores in 1959 and quickly became a global phenomenon. Over the past 60 years, Mattel’s most famous doll has held hundreds of jobs, endured numerous controversies, and continually reinvented herself to adapt and change with the times. Barbie has had a number of direct-to-video animated films and parodies, but she has never had her own live-action feature film until now.

After bouncing around between studios, creatives, and stars (at one point, Amy Schumer was set to play Barbie), it was finally announced that two-time Oscar nominee Margot Robbie would play the title role, with two-time Oscar nominee Ryan Gosling as her Ken and three-time Oscar nominee Greta Gerwig in the director’s chair. 

Beyond this small explanation, plot specifics have been kept under wraps: “To live in Barbie Land is to be a perfect being in a perfect place. Unless you have a full-on existential crisis. Or you’re a Ken.” Barbie, played by Margot Robbie, will be the doll in distress, and Ryan Gosling’s Ken will foil her escape to the Real World.

Barbie, played by Margot Robbie, will be the doll in distress, and Ryan Gosling’s Ken will foil her escape to the Real World.

Barbies are played by Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, Ana Cruz Kayne, Emma Mackey, Hari Nef, Alexandra Shipp, Sharon Rooney, Nicola Coughlan, Ritu Arya, and Dua Lipa, while Kens are played by Kingsley Ben-Adir, Simu Liu, Ncuti Gatwa, and Scott Evans. Ken’s best friend Allan is played by Michael Cera, and Barbie’s best friend Midge is played by Oscar winner Emerald Fennell. Naturally, John Cena plays a merman.

In the Real World, Will Ferrell plays Mattel’s CEO, with Jamie Demetriou and Connor Swindells as toy company employees, and America Ferrera and Ariana Greenblatt as human characters who Barbie and Ken meet on their adventure.

Meanwhile, Oscar winner Helen Mirren will play the narrator.

Barbie is Gerwig’s third feature film, following the Oscar-nominated Little Women in 2019 and Lady Bird in 2017. She directs from a screenplay she co-wrote with Noah Baumbach (who is a three-time Oscar nominee for The Squid and the Whale and Marriage Story).