We're in the midst of a long line of toys being turned into movies, and it seemed for a while that the live-action Barbie movie would be the next of these projects to be made. However, that project has recently hit a setback, as news broke this week that Amy Schumer has quit the movie. The comedian was slated to play the lead in Barbie, and now the potential film is without a famous face.
Per reports, the actress herself has indicated she is no longer involved with Barbie. Amy Schumer is citing scheduling conflicts as the reason for dropping out of the live-action movie, which was set to follow her character living in Barbieland where she is loud and doesn't quite belong with the other Barbies. She would have traveled to the real world where she would learn what was within really matters, an interesting albeit not particularly new premise for a flick.
The news comes as a bit of a surprise, just because this outsider Barbie role seems tailor-made for Amy Schumer. Regardless, she has a slew of other projects currently in the works, including She Came To Me, Snatched and Thank You For Your Service. Snatched is hitting theaters shortly, on May 12, so presumably that film would be less of a conflict with Barbie, as the Mattel-oriented movie has been anticipated to premiere in June of 2018. Still, it's clear Amy Schumer is busy. It's so clear that who knows when another season of Inside Amy Schumer will actually hit the schedule on Comedy Central?
According to Variety, there's currently no word regarding whether or not Barbie will keep the same tone and outlook once it does find a new lead. The not fitting in and subsequent fish out of water story seemed pretty tailor-made for Schumer and we're not sure who else could fill the role as overtly well. Currently, Barbie doesn't have a director, either, so with no big names attached, we'll have to wait and see if this one ends up moving forward soon or gets put on the backburner for a while. We do know that Walter F. Parkes, Laurie MacDonald and Amy Pascal are set to produce the film when it does find another lead.
While Barbie was traditionally known as a toy that gave young ladies unrealistic expectations about how they should look. (The original Barbie would topple over in real life, for instance.) Barbie has made great strides in recent years to cater to different heights, races and body types, and Amy Schumer has been an advocate for body positivity during her career. The two seemed like a great fit, but alas, it is not to be. We'll let you know as soon as Barbie figures out another actress who will totally fit the role. In the meantime, you can take a look at what is headed into theaters with our movies schedule.
