48
•
LMGI COMPASS
|
Winter 2024
Photo Atsushi Nishijima/Amazon
Citrin also went to bat to secure the location for the poignant bus stop scene outside Santa
Monica City Hall, a blocky 1939 art deco building with expansive landscaped lawns that was
scouted by Thomas and transformed into the Venice Police Department. The bus stop had to
be constructed, shot and torn down in record time, the day before the Fourth of July Parade
on Main Street.
"It looks great on camera, but it was one of the hardest things for us logistically," Thomas
says. More Barbie action was captured in Tongva Park across the street. "Robin consistently
worked with the studio and the city of Santa Monica," Thomas says. "The reality is, without
her outreach, we couldn't have done what we did—and it worked out really well."
Citrin's talent for curating environments also helped the movie execute inside jokes for
Angelenos, like Ken discovering
his masculinity in Century City—a
sleek glass-and-steel business and
commercial campus crammed
with swaggering consumerism,
Hummers, gym rats and business
bros.
"Bringing Century City to life with
all these patriarchal characters
was just fantastic—everything
is extreme," Greenwood says.
Adds Thorson, "We built a little
gym where the Annenberg Space
for Photography used to be, and
we also added horses!" During
initial filming, the area was largely
deserted due to COVID, but when
crews returned the following April
to shoot additional footage, they
had to film on a Saturday as offices
began to fill with returning workers.
Barbie faces some harsh truths
when she meets a group of high
school girls in a scene filmed at
Paul Revere Charter Middle School,
just a mile or so from the beach.
"The school district schedules
construction projects during the
summer when the students aren't
there, and they warned us of the
possibility," Citrin says. "And
of course, that's exactly what
happened. All the sidewalks were
torn up because they were repaving
them for handicap accessibility, and
Sarah had the brilliant idea to have
the construction department skin
over all the sidewalks so we would
be able to walk and film on them.
Problem solved!"
Although Mattel's actual building
is nearby El Segundo, Citrin
presented the Bank of America
Financial Center to capture the
hard-driving machismo of the toy
company's fictional headquarters.
The towering downtown L.A.
skyscraper is fronted by the Four
Arches, an imposing 63-foot-tall
orange steel sculpture wrought by
famed artist Alexander Calder.
Second unit location manager
Darrin Lipscomb, who managed
filming in Long Beach, shut down
sections of its downtown, including
Ocean Boulevard and sections of the
major artery Shoreline Drive to film
the car chase as Gloria, Sasha and
Barbie flee from Mattel's corporate
Photos: DP Rodrigo Prieto
