Amy Schumer: Reason for Dropping Barbie Adaptation Revealed

Amy Schumer has disclosed the actual reason she withdrew from the long-gestating Barbie movie, despite previously having been in discussions to star in and rewrite the script. The Mattel doll adaption, which Margot Robbie produced and stars in, depicts the actual Barbie being expelled from Barbieland owing to an existential crisis.

Ryan Gosling’s Ken joins her in her quest for ultimate happiness. Barbie, co-written and directed by three-time Oscar nominee Greta Gerwig, is prepared to make a stir at the movie box-office this summer by competing against Oppenheimer.

Amy Schumer was recently a guest on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, where she was questioned about leaving the long-in-the-works Barbie movie. The comedian clarified that contrary to reports that she left the project because of schedule issues, she left because it “didn’t feel feminist and cool” enough.

“They said I was too thin. I can’t wait to see the movie. I think it looks awesome. I think we said it was scheduling conflicts. That’s what we said. But it really was just like, creative differences. But there’s a new team behind it, and it looks like it’s very feminist and cool so I will be seeing this movie.”

It was revealed that the Inside Amy Schumer actor would play Barbie in the live-action film back in 2016. She did, however, clarify a few months later that she was no longer in the movie, claiming “scheduling conflicts.”

“The film has so much promise, and Sony and Mattel have been great partners,” Schumer added in her statement at the time. “I’m bummed, but I look forward to seeing Barbie on the big screen.”

In an interview from a year ago, Schumer reflected on the split and explained further why she decided to leave the original movie.

“They definitely didn’t want to do it the way I wanted to do it,” she told The Hollywood Reporter in March 2022, “the only way I was interested in doing it.”

According to the publication, Schumer and her sister Kim Caramele worked on the script and saw Barbie as an inventor. The publication claimed that the studio wanted her creation to be a Jell-O-made high heel at the time and gave Schumer a pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes to honor her performance. I should have said, “You’ve got the wrong gal,” as she put it, “the idea that that’s just what every woman must want.”