The Production Designer on the Movie BARBIE Says They Used So Much Pink Paint on Set They Caused an International Shortage

Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie is headed our way this summer, and the trailers and photos have promised a total Barbie experience. From the costumes to the sets, the pink paradise that is the Barbie land and dreamhouse is a fantasy come true for fans of the brand. It’s amazing to see the props and classic outfits come to life after playing with them as a kid.

It was a major feat for the film’s production designer, Sarah Greenwood, and set decorator, Katie Spencer, to make it all a reality. The pair explained to Architectural Digest that they had ever owned a Barbie before, so they ordered a Dreamhouse off Amazon to study.

“The scale was quite strange,” recalls Spencer, explaining how they adjusted its rooms’ quirky proportions to 23 percent smaller than human size for the set. Says Gerwig: “The ceiling is actually quite close to one’s head, and it only takes a few paces to cross the room. It has the odd effect of making the actors seem big in the space but small overall.”

Gerwig went on to talk about what she wanted to capture with Barbie’s dreamhouse:

“I wanted to capture what was so ridiculously fun about the Dreamhouses. Why walk down stairs when you can slide into your pool? Why trudge up stairs when you take an elevator that matches your dress?”

For Barbie’s bedroom, the team paired a clamshell headboard upholstered in velvet with a sequined coverlet. Her closet, meanwhile, reveals coordinated outfits in toy-box vitrines. “It’s very definitely a house for a single woman,” says Greenwood, noting that when the first Dreamhouse (a cardboard foldout) was sold in 1962 it was rare for a woman to own her own home. Adds Spencer: “She is the ultimate feminist icon.”

Everything also needed to be pink. “Maintaining the ‘kid-ness’ was paramount,” Gerwig says. “I wanted the pinks to be very bright, and everything to be almost too much.” In other words, she continues, she didn’t want to “forget what made me love Barbie when I was a little girl.” Construction, Greenwood notes, caused an international run on the fluorescent shade of Rosco paint. “The world,” she laughs, “ran out of pink.” 

It looks like they ended up getting all they needed though! And it was totally worth it to bring this cool set to life. The movie stars Margot Robbie as Barbie with Ryan Gosling as Ken. They are joined by Simu Liu (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings), Kate McKinnon (Saturday Night Live), Ariana Greenblatt (Love and Monsters), Issa Rae (Insecure), Michael Cera (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World), Hari Nef (Transparent), Will Ferrell (Saturday Night Live), Kingsley Ben-Adir, Helen Mirren, Ncuti Gatwa, and America Ferrera, as well as John Cena, who plays a mermaid version of Ken!

Barbie hits theaters on July 21st.