Films about toys are nothing new anymore. Just ask Transformers and The Lego Movie and they'll tell you that they can be turned into engaging stories with a deep message or a way to showcase cars and explosions for two and a half hours.
Anyway, toy films and stories about how they're created are less common. Reese Witherspoon, who's really knocking it out of the park with the whole producing strong, female-led stories, has set her sights on telling the story of Barbie's creation.
Witherspoon is planning to tell the story of Ruth Handler, the woman who created the world's most famous doll, with a possible view to playing a role in the film itself. Based on Robin Gerber's Barbie And Ruth biography, Witherspoon has optioned the rights to the book and has in active development at the moment.
Meanwhile, Sony are trying to put together a feature film set in Barbie's universe with a script from Juno's Diablo Cody and Sex and the City scribe Jenny Bicks. Interestingly, Witherspoon is being eyed to play the role of Barbie in that production - if it ever sees the light of day.
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Witherspoon's Barbie creation story has some commonality with Jennifer Lawrence's Joy, which focuses on a young woman who creates a product that goes on to become a household name whilst battling sexism and society for an equal stake. There's some of that in Ruth Handler's story and, of course, it's far more interesting than an actual Barbie story.
Do you rate Witherspoon as a producer?
