Amy Schumer is in early talks to star in Sony’s live-action “Barbie” film. The original idea and screenplay is by Hilary Winston, although it is expected that Schumer and her sister, Kim Caramele, will rewrite.
The story is in the vein of “Splash”, “Enchanted” and “Big.” In it, the main character gets kicked out of Barbieland for not being perfect enough and lands in a real-world adventure.
The film will open in summer 2018. Lauren Abrahams will oversee the project for Sony Pictures.
Walter F. Parkes, Laurie MacDonald and Amy Pascal will produce. Parkes and MacDonald initiated the original deal with Mattel in 2014.
“Barbie” is a global brand power house with sales of over $3 billion dollars worldwide. Barbie has taken on more than 150 roles through her more than 50 years as a doll, including princess, president, mermaid and movie star.
Schumer was most recently seen in “Trainwreck,” and can be seen next in Fox’s currently untitled mother-daughter comedy with Goldie Hawn. She also recently wrapped production on the DreamWorks PTSD film “Thank You for Your Service” with Miles Teller.
Schumer is repped by UTA, managed by Guy Oseary at Maverick and Carrie Byalick at B. Her lawyer is Isaac Dunham of Schreck Rose Dapello & Adams.
Mattel and producers Walter F Parkes, Laurie MacDonald and Amy Pascal have teamed up for the project, which is aimed at putting a contemporary spin on beauty, feminism and identity.
Sony had hired three scribes to pen separate screenplays, with the studio picking Hilary Winston’s idea and script. Schumer is expected to rewrite the script with her sister, Kim Caramele. A search for a director is still on.
Barbie doll, launched in March 1959 by El Segundo, California-based Mattel, is one of the biggest toy brands in the world.
The movie will try to address those in a story that begins in a perfect land of Barbies, where one woman slowly awakens to the fact that she doesn’t fit in. She is expelled from the idealistic land and journeys to the real world, where she discovers that being unique is an asset.
