LMGI COMPASS
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Winter 2024
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45
Citrin was ready to meet every big location ask in service to
Gerwig's story. "It was a challenge because we had to do everything
by Zoom and Skype and WhatsApp. Greta is welcoming and she
was receptive to suggestions, but she was writing and filming in
London when we were preparing, so a lot of the decisions had to
be made remotely."
PLANNING TWO WORLDS, A WORLD APART
Greenwood, who teamed with set designer and longtime creative
collaborator Katie Spencer to envision and craft Barbie's
"hermetically sealed world," as she calls it, in London, took notes
during the L.A. recce on landmarks and features to replicate.
"Robin and her team were fantastic," Greenwood says. "She had a
really nuanced understanding of what was needed for the script.
It just seemed to answer the counterpoint to Barbie Land really
clearly. We were absolutely spoiled for choice, we had so many
fantastic options. So, we're cherry-picking from California and
we're taking it to Barbie Land. I loved pointing out the differences
and similarities between the two worlds."
The architecture and landscape of Palm Springs became a key
design reference for the London set, borrowing from the desert
community's midcentury modern features, sun-bleached pastels,
palm trees and surrounding mountains.
To achieve the open, light-saturated graphic vibe that captures
the childlike perspective of Barbie Land on a 360-degree indoor
set, Greenwood embraced a different approach from the layered,
shaded period films she's won awards for like Atonement and
Anna Karenina. "You're working with a palette of about 15 colors.
Literally no patina, no aging, nowhere to hide. Everything has to
be finished within an inch of its life, and it has to look like a toy.
It was truthfully one of the most philosophical and intellectual
challenges I think we've ever had on a film to solve. It looks very
simple now, but it was not simple to do at all, I can promise you."
Photo: Mike Bryant
