Barbie’s Malibu Dreamhouse just installed a hamburger phone as Deadline reports that Juno and Young Adult writer Diablo Cody has been hired to rewrite Sony’s upcoming live-action Barbie movie. Cody has been asked to do a draft on the movie, originally scripted by Sex And The City and The Big C writer Jenny Bicks; she was presumably chosen for her signature rapid-fire dialogue, witty repartee being something Barbie has struggled with in the past.
Cody has also presumably been chosen to bring a bit of edginess to the project, something that, again, Barbie has never quite been able to capture, not even when she was in a band in the ’80s. Much of Cody’s past work has been R-rated, but she did write an as-yet-unproduced Sweet Valley High movie at one point, so maybe this isn‘t such a crazy idea after all. Producer Walter Parkes seems to think so: “Diablo’s unconventionality is just what Barbie needs,” he says. “It signals we’re going for a legitimately contemporary tone. We’re bringing her on because she had great ideas, but even more importantly, she truly loves Barbie.”
At least Sony is hiring women to write the movie, unlike some other big-screen adaptations of dolls with their own cartoon series we could name. The film will reportedly focus on Barbie as a Mary Poppins-like figure who breezes into peoples’ lives and improves them using her myriad “personal and professional skills,” like running for President, going to space, being sponsored by McDonald’s, and walking on tiptoe even after she takes off her heels.