By Steve Hopkins
Amy walked away from the project over creative differences
Amy Schumer has revealed her verdict on the new Barbie movie, six years after she walked away from the film that’s made history.
The Greta Gerwig film scored a US$377m (£293m, A$560m) opening weekend around the world, making it the biggest debut ever for a film directed by a woman,
The Guardian reported. At the North American box office – which combines the US and Canada – Barbie claimed $155m in ticket sales, surpassing The Super Mario Bros Movie and every Marvel film released this year to become the biggest opening of the year.
In a post on
Instagram Schumer wrote that she really “enjoyed” both Barbie and Oppenheimer. However, she joked that she should have been cast in Emily Blunt’s role of Kitty in Christopher Nolan’s film.
She wrote, “Do better Hollywood” alongside a picture of her with a stern look wearing sunglasses and a straw hat.
The 42-year-old’s comments come after she stepped down from Barbie after passing on a script that would see the comedian star as the famous doll who gets kicked out of Barbie Land for not being “perfect enough”.
Margot Robbie ended up taking the part, but up until 2017, Schumer was very much in the frame.
The film, which came out on July 21, had been in development since 2009 when toy maker Mattel signed a partnership with Universal Pictures.
However, when nothing came of the plans, it moved to Sony Pictures in 2014.
Schumer signed on for the part two years later, and was also set to pen the script.
But that didn’t happen, and Schumer distanced herself from the project a few months later, reportedly over scheduling conflicts.
She later explained to the Hollywood Reporter why, saying she was the “wrong gal” for the job and had experienced creative differences with Sony over the project.
Schumer said: “The studio definitely didn’t want to do it the way I wanted to do it. The only way I was interested in doing it.”
Apparently, Schumer had been pushing for Barbie to be an inventor and was not happy when Sony suggested that she could create a pair of high heels made out of jelly.
The tipping point, when Schumer knew she wasn’t the right fit for the part, came when she was sent a pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes by the studio to celebrate her casting.
“The idea that that’s just what every woman must want, right there, I should have gone, ‘You’ve got the wrong gal’.”
Warner Bros Studios picked up the movie in 2018 and Robbie was cast in July 2019.
Greta Gerwig signed on as director two years later and a co-writer along with partner Noah Baumbach.
Despite stepping away from the project, Schumer recently revealed that despite “creative differences” she was still excited to see the flick.
“There’s like a new team behind it and it looks like it’s very feminist and cool, so I will be seeing that movie,” she said. “I can’t wait to see the movie, I think it looks awesome.”
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