Creating the perfect backdrop for the upcoming 鈥淏arbie鈥� movie required so much pink paint that it led to a global shortage, according to its production designer.
鈥淭he world ran out of pink,鈥� said Sarah Greenwood in a recent interview with Architectural Digest.
Greenwood, who has been nominated for six Academy Awards, including for the art direction of 鈥淧ride & Prejudice鈥� and 鈥淎tonement,鈥� said constructing the set involved huge amounts of Rosco鈥檚 fluorescent pink paint.
Warner Bros.鈥� live-action movie, which hits theaters on July 21, stars Margot Robbie in the titular role and a blond Ryan Gosling as her plastic boyfriend, Ken. (Warner Bros., like CNN, is a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery.)
Greta Gerwig, who directed and co-wrote the script with Noah Baumbach, told the magazine the color was all-important to the movie.
鈥淢aintaining the 鈥榢id-ness鈥� was paramount,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 wanted the pinks to be very bright, and everything to be almost too much.鈥�
This was part of what Gerwig described as 鈥渓iterally creating the alternate universe of Barbie Land.鈥�
While Gerwig said she loved Barbie as a child, neither Greenwood nor set decorator Katie Spencer had ever owned one of Mattel鈥檚 iconic dolls. So the London-based team ordered a Barbie 鈥淒reamhouse鈥� online to spark their imaginations.
They took further inspiration from Palm Springs mid-century modernism. 鈥淓verything about that era was spot-on,鈥� said Greenwood, adding that she strove 鈥渢o make Barbie real through this unreal world.鈥�
In an email to CNN, Lauren Proud, vice president of marketing and digital experience for paint company Rosco, confirmed that the production used a lot of the color but added that there were other factors involved in the squeeze on pink paint.
鈥淭he sets were being developed during a time when we were still experiencing the global supply chain issues, and the paint supply was hit particularly hard,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e delivered everything we could, they got it all. We can鈥檛 wait to see how it looks in the film!鈥�
