It's a celebration
of queerness
in a way, you know,
and its pureness,
and its spirit.
And, you know,
it just, it's such
an honour
to be able
to just participate
in that.
Obviously, the movie is
being really
well-received
so far.
It's got a
really big gay following.
I just wondered
why you thought
that might be?
As someone
with gay friends
who have
bombarded me
about tickets
and did not care
that I was in
another movie called
Spider-Verse,
when I offered
those tickets,
I, honestly
I think that Barbie
is just an icon.
She's a fashion icon.
She is confident.
She can be
anything.
She's aspirational
Like, what's not
to love about
Barbie?
And I think also
specifically,
you know,
a lot of
young boys
played with Barbie
and have been told
that they're not
supposed to.
And I think this is
an opportunity
to celebrate,
you know, what
they may have
been shunned
for celebrating
in the past.
So, any excuse
to celebrate
Barbie,
I think,
will bring people out.
Not my words,
but I think
one of the
first things that,
first conversations
that I had with
Greta [Gerwig, the director] was that,
you know,
was about this movie,
and it's such a,
it's like a
it is,
it’s a celebration
of queerness
in a way, you know,
and its pureness
and
its spirit.
And, you know,
it just, it's such
an honour
to be able
to just participate
in that, in the,
you know, in
in this,
like unabashed,
you know,
celebration
of individualism,
of self-expression,
of acceptance
of oneself and
others around you.
And the film deals
a lot
with the idea
of identity
and like
figuring out
who you are
as a person
in any world
that we live in,
whether it's
Barbie world
or the real world.
How have you
been impacted
by the film?
By being
in the film
and being Barbie
and being Ken?
I mean,
I think I was
one of those kids
that when
when, you know, when
I was growing up,
I was
kind, of like,
whether it was, like,
the people
around me
or the rules
imposed on me
by society
was that
I could only wear
these colours,
I could only
play sports,
I could not like,
you know,
the colour pink,
I could not play
with Barbies,
I could not,
you know,
like ballet
or dance or,
you know,
when I loved ballet
and I loved dance.
And I
would like
dance by myself
all the time
because I didn't,
you know,
I was
too embarrassed
to do it
in front of
other people
and sing and
and, like,
I think this,
what I hope
that this
movie does,
and what it
certainly did
for me,
was just
open me up,
you know, even
just ungendering
the colour pink
and doing such,
I think we've just,
I hope that
we've done,
you know,
that work and
just disconnecting
ourselves
from these
arbitrary rules
and these
really antiquated
ideas of
what is quote unquote
“male”
and what is quote unquote
“female”
and just living,
living
to your fullest
and
the most
authentic self.
That’s beautifully said.
I think
for me,
it was almost
affirming in a way.
You know,
Barbie represents
this very specific
beauty standard
and to be able
to even play one
just opened up
the way that
I view myself
and also seeing
the various Barbies
in the movie
in Greta Gerwig's
vision of Barbie Land
was
just really
beautiful,
beautifully fulfilling.
And it's,
it's a
self-esteem boost,
honestly,
to be able
to be like, “Oh,
I got to play
a Barbie.”
You know?
Each of you
has a Barbie
and a Ken,
a respective Barbie
and Ken,
that played by Scott Evans
and Hari Nef.
Do you know
if there
were any conversations
on set
about the film's
LGBTQ representation
that they were bringing
with them as actors?
Hari, you know,
so Greta encouraged
us to think
about who would
who would
be playing
with our Barbies.
Obviously, we exist
in this world
because we're being
played with
as Barbie and
Hari's imagination
of who
her owner was
a gay man
who collects
Barbies
and doesn't
doesn't play
with them too hard.
But like,
just even
being able
to imagine herself
as an antique
Barbie doll,
a collector's item,
and the
acceptance around
that was just,
you know,
those conversations
being had behind
the scenes
and also informing
how she plays
her role.
There was
a constant
conversation about,
you know, again,
like Simu said,
how queerness
impacts
the world of Barbie
and almost
accentuates
the world
and enhances
the world
of Barbie.
That's so beautiful.
Yeah,
Hari has
again,
you'll have to
read this letter
that she,
I think she
posted on her,
on her Twitter.
But she had written
this letter
to Greta
about how,
you know, in
in her friend
group dolls
is something
that they refer
to themselves as.
And it's just
you know, I am
I would do a
terrible job
if I tried to
paraphrase it
in any way.
I would just say
it is one
of the most
beautiful things
I've ever read.
And
and it was just
an honour
to share the screen
with her,
with Scott.
Absolutely, yeah.
Thank you
very much,
both of you.
Thank you.
I think that’s all
time we’ve got.