The Barbie movie’s use of pink paint created an international shortage of pink paint

Barbie’s movie set used so much pink that ‘the world ran out’ [it],” says the production designer of the highly anticipated film.

Director Greta Gerwig wanted to create “authentic artificiality” for the Margot Robbie-led movie, so she asked for everything to be painted by hand instead of using CGI, according to Architectural abstract.

As the visionary behind bringing Barbie’s world to the screen, Greta set her intentions early on, telling the publication, “Keeping the “kid-ness” was paramount.

“I wanted the pink tones to be really bright and everything to be almost too much. [I didn’t want to] forget why I loved Barbie when I was a little girl.”

She added, “You have a painted sky in a soundstage, which is an illusion, but it’s actually there. The painted background is really there.’

The director believes that you should experience Barbie with your senses and says: “Everything had to be tangible, because toys are above all things that you touch.”

Greta wanted Barbie’s world to come to life physically, rather than just digitally, and make it a fully immersive experience.

Getting the pink color “right” was a huge mission, and choosing the specific shade that would represent Barbie was a long process.

The iconic pink of Barbie’s world was created thanks to Rosco’s painting team, which started with 100 shades of pink.

After mixing the shades to create a perfect Barbie palette, they narrowed it down to 10 pinks in total.

The journey depended not only on the color chosen, but how the paint would change color when mixed with it with furniture or fabric.

Production designer Sarah Greenwood stated that coming to a conclusion was a constant challenge.

“Pink was a constant battle. You think you’ve sorted your spectrum and what’s going on in the back environment changes palettes. You put it next to furniture or a fabric and it just flattens out,” she said IndieWire.

Barbie Land came to life in Warner Bros.’ studios, in Leavesden, England.

To create the magical set, Sarah and decorator Katie Spencer went back to the architectural archives to better understand Barbie’s world.

They were inspired by mid-century modernism, particularly in Palm Springs, dating back to Austrian-American architect Richard Neutra’s Kaufmann House in 1946.

“Everything about that time was right,” says Sarah to the AD.

Richard’s creation featured modern overlapping and stacked rectangular living spaces, with floor-to-ceiling glass and a sleek outdoor pool.

Like the Kaufmann House, Barbie’s Dreamhouse is transparent, modern and has an open concept throughout.

Greta mentions how the Barbie architecture has “no walls and no doors” and she believes this kind of physically translucent space symbolically shows the openness in Barbie’s world.

‘Dream homes assume you never have anything you wish were private – there’s no place to hide,” she told AD.

With that in mind, she wanted “to make Barbie real through this unreal world.”

“It’s definitely a house for a single woman,” Sarah said, adding in 1962, when the first Barbie house came out, women couldn’t own property.

Katie was quick to tell AD: “[Barbie] is the ultimate feminist icon.’

And fans eat up what they’ve seen so far, with one person gushing, “I love how, by deliberately staying stereotyped and reclaiming the Barbie aesthetic, the movie seems to be giving women a chance to relive their childhood.” experience without prejudice. or shame in the game. Just pure pink fun.’