Long before Margot Robbie boarded the “Barbie” movie and got Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach to write the screenplay, it was Amy Schumer who was set to headline the project. Back in 2016, Sony Pictures had the rights to “Barbie” and cast Schumer to star in a movie based on an original idea and screenplay by Hilary Winston. Schumer and her sister, Kim Caramele, planned rewrites, but the comedian exited the movie less than a year later.
“Sadly, I’m no longer able to commit to Barbie due to scheduling conflicts,” the actor said in a statement toPvNew at the time. “The film has so much promise, and Sony and Mattel have been great partners. I’m bummed, but look forward to seeing Barbie on the big screen.”
It turns out “scheduling conflicts” was just a cover. During a new interview on “Watch What Happens Live,” Schumer admitted that it was “creative differences” that drove her off the “Barbie” movie.
“I can’t wait to see the [Margot Robbie] movie, it looks awesome,” Schumer said. “I think we said it was scheduling conflicts, that’s what we said. But yeah, it really was just creative differences. But you know, there’s a new team behind it, and it looks like it’s very feminist and cool so I will be seeing the movie.”
When host Andy Cohen asked if Schumer’s script for “Barbie” didn’t “feel feminist and cool,” the comedian responded, “Yeah! Yeah.”
Schumer mentioned to The Hollywood Reporter last year that Sony “definitely didn’t want to do it the way I wanted to do it, the only way I was interested in doing it.” She said she should’ve known the project wasn’t for her when the studio gifted her a pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes to celebrate her casting.
The “Barbie” project ultimately moved from Sony to Warner Bros. after Margot Robbie secured the rights through Mattel. She got Gerwig and Baumbach to pen the screenplay, with Gerwig later boarding the project as director. Warner Bros. is opening the film nationwide July 21.
