Reese Witherspoon, through her production company Pacific Standard, has optioned the 2010 book Barbie and Ruth: The Story of the World’s Most Famous Doll and the Woman Who Created Her. The 39-year-old actress seems to be eyeing the title role herself. This isn’t the first time: back in 2012, she acquired the rights to Cheryl Strayed’s memoir Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail and played her on the big screen (in the more marquee-friendly titled Wild), receiving critical kudos and an Oscar nomination for her performance.
Barbie and Ruth tells the tale of Ruth Handler (no relation to Chelsea), who created the now iconic doll after watching her daughter, Barbara, playing with paper dolls featuring teenagers, as opposed to the baby dolls that were popular at the time. Handler modeled Barbie on a German adult novelty toy (really – where do you think she got those boobs?) with her husband, who owned the toy company Mattel. The doll debuted in 1959 and has become one of the most popular toys of all time. In fact, one Barbie doll is sold every 3 seconds somewhere in the world. Despite having over 150 careers, the doll has courted controversy over the years for creating unrealistic expectations for girls and even grown women. Ruth handled her critics with aplomb, writing in her 1994 autobiography, Dream Doll: The Ruth Handler Story, “My whole philosophy of Barbie was that through the doll, the little girl could be anything she wanted to be. Barbie always represented the fact that a woman has choices.”
In 1970, Ruth was diagnosed with breast cancer, and, since she was unable to find a suitable prosthetic breast, she developed her own – using plastic for good for once – and ended up founding a company to produce more realistic prosthesis for breast cancer survivors. She died in 2002 at age 85 from complications after surgery for colon cancer. The woman led a very compelling life and her story is sure to make for an interesting film.
Reese and Ruth do have some things in common, which leads me to believe she’s correct in casting herself as the lead. Pacific Standard, which Reese started with partner Bruna Papandrea, focuses on acquiring movie rights to stories featuring more female protagonists. At Glamour’s Women of the Year event last month, Reese spoke out about the sad lack of female-focused movies, saying, “Films with women at the center are not a public service project. They are a big-time, bottom line-enhancing, money-making commodity.”
Reese’s production company was also responsible for producing Gone Girl (excellent) and Hot Pursuit (meh). She’s aggressively working to bring more female faces to the big screen and even helping young women improve their economic literacy skills, so this project is completely in line with her girl power vibe. I guess this means that she’s no longer in contention for the real-life Barbie movie that Diablo Cody is writing? But, at 39, it’s probably a given that she would be out of contention to play a living teen-aged doll anyway. Damn you and your ageism, Hollywood!
photo credit: WENN.com and Getty Images
Huh, I didn’t know the woman behind Barbie was married to the owner of Mattel. That explains a lot.
If you read up about it, it was Ruth who really made the company what it is. She was a hustler, her husband was her partner, but not the reason for her success. Her story is really cool and inspirational, but also brings up those pesky “can a woman have it all?” Questions as her family had really strained relationships with each other and the company by the end.
Oh, and in case the names didn’t give it away, Ruth and her husband came from Jewish families, which adds another angle to the story. The thought of WASPy Reese playing Ruth is hilarious, but also kind of sad. I hope Reese doesn’t make this a vanity project and casts someone more appropriate.
I was prepared to hate it, but I don’t. Good for her. Ruth Handler sounds like a formidable woman; despite sticking us with Barbie.
I’m reserving my judgement until I see how they handle Barbies critics in the film. But I suspect they’ll be depicted as fat, ugly, crazed, lesbian feminists who tried to tarnish the genius behind Barbie.
Naya, or they can just splice in Lisa Simpson reaching out to reclusive Kathleen Turner Barbie: “Math is hard.”
Same here. I knew nothing about Ruth Handler before this post. I respect what she has done for women diagnosed with breast cancer. I hope that the movie addresses Barbie critics with respect … not sure they will. Or even that they will address the valid criticisms towards Barbie at all. We’ll see, I guess.
I had never heard about the breast cancer. Her story intrigues me, I hope they do make this movie (although I suppose I could just read the book)
Ruth’s mastectomy bathing suits were beautiful (in gorgeous prints) and I miss them to this day. They were designed so you could wear your bra under the suit without it showing. I bought some for myself and my aunt. I met Ruth and she was lovely, friendly and down to earth.
I love Reese. And even though she has made so many films Legally Blonde will always be one of my favorites from her. The plot is meh but I can watch it over and over again
Something about the charisma and unapologetic sass and pure personality that she brings to Elle makes that character irresistible. I think her best film is The Man in the Moon, but I still LOVE Legally Blonde with all my heart. And I’m so for her girl-power initiative and the Barbie movie.
For me, ELECTION will always be my favourite RW film.
Legally Blond just has so much charm. I unapologetically love that movie. But Election and Freeway will always be my favourite Reese movies.
LAK-Election was filmed in and around my hometown (as was About Schmidt). I liked the movie, but loved seeing my own route to work/school while watching. How nerdy is that?
Legally Blonde is amazing! I even like the crappy sequel.
I like Reese as a dramatic actress but she’s better in comedies, I think. I still think her best performance to date was in Election (AMAZING movie).
@ I choose me. Yes! Freeway was insanely good/bizarre/crazy. I don’t like Witherspoon, but she can act, no question.
Okay, now I can’t resist since I said something nice. Is this movie gonna be called “Barbie, American Citizen, Cautionary Tale About the Perils of Drunk Driving” ?
I’ll show myself out.
Legally Blonde (the book the movie was based on) was written by an unapologetic, card-carrying racist who proudly displayed her Confederate flag out of her bedroom window at Harvard, upsetting all the black students. The university allowed her to keep it up (but forced the black student who hung up a Nazi flag in protest to take hers down). Screw her and Harvard.
I always loved pouring alcohol on my Fourth of July Barbie, getting her arrested by Police Officer Ken, and standing my ground as an American Citizen!
You just made my day!
I guess it’s quite common for little girls to act out debauchery through their Barbies. Mine were doing ALL kinds of nasties and I seriously wonder where I got my inspiration from! And don’t get me started on the infamous evil crackhead prostitute with bold spots and “customized hooker wear”!!!
Yesterday my younger daughter had two naked Barbies in between a fully-clothed Ken, and she was like “they can be naked with him because they really love each other. But he doesn’t kiss their butts because that’s just gross.” She’ll play with Barbies for hours…it’s the only toy she’ll choose over TV.
Sometimes at bedtime we read this book about Barbie that I got for Christmas in 1989. I hope the movie will be kid friendly, so I can take them.
That’s creative! 🙂
My sister and I would mostly e-enact storylines from soap operas. Bold and the Beautiful meets Dallas.
LOL, I used to do that too! Only with Days of our Lives – Bo, Hope, Carly being buried alive … good times.
Sometimes, though we would pretend our Barbies were Lucy and Ethel from I Love Lucy and complain about our husbands.
calico, you win the internet today! HA!
Lol, didn’t see your comment, you beat me to it! But I guess that video will forever be the giver of jokes. It should be in the gossip hall of fame, it is my all time favorite bit of celebrity shenanigans.
The title role for her? No thanks!
I don’t think I’ll ever really understand the Barbie controversies tbh. I’m a short, brown, latina girl who grew up playing with Barbies and I never felt bad I didn’t look like her. Barbie happened to be blonde and slim and I happen not to be. She’s a toy and I’m human. I just don’t get where girls start developing this idea she’s some sort of role model, I never saw her as more than a doll. If anything, I’d be HER role model as I’m the one who actually has a brain.
I think this sounds like a very interesting story. I hope she gets a good cast and director and makes a film as good as Gone Girl. I really wouldn’t like this to be a bomb.
And this?
“Films with women at the center are not a public service project. They are a big-time, bottom line-enhancing, money-making commodity.”
Perfect. Female led films can be just as profitable, and there’s empirical evidence everywhere. People have to stop looking at it as some charity.
I’m with you, I played with Barbies with my friends and while we may have remarked on her figure (we definitely remarked on Ken’s disconcertingly smooth crotch area!) in passing it really wasn’t the focus of our play, which was just innocent pretend play, getting her dressed and setting up her house. I think sometimes people forget that kids play is sometimes simply just that.
I also think it sounds like very interesting story — I had no idea about Barbie’s back story –although I wouldn’t go out of my way to see a film about it. I’ll probably just read the book.
I agree, and in addition, why such a massive concern over girls’ toys, and no mind to the muscle bound hunks that boys play with like GI Joe or Superman? It’s insulting to girls imo that they are thought to be too fragile or too stupid to understand the difference between fantasy and reality. Barbie is a toy. She’s a doll. She was my favorite toy actually, and through her I was able to express myself and play out scenarios that at that time only existed in my imagination. Like driving a car, or going on a date, or ordering for myself at a restaurant. Stupid stuff really, but important play actions for a child that you couldn’t do with a baby doll.
Exactly. I don’t get what is so wrong with Barbie, she’s just a toy. Like you, I’d use her as an outlet to play out my fantasies, like making my camping Barbie into an archaeologist. I’d use old pill bottles as cases to bury around the yard that I would fill with little knick knacks that would act as my ancient artifacts that I was on the hunt for. I would build rafts out of twigs and floss to float her over puddles and pretend she was on the Amazon river. I’d created elaborate treasure maps for her to hunt for lost treasure. I had another Barbie that was the executive of a firm and would cut small stacks of paper for her reports that I’d write up and she had meetings. Playing with a Barbie was a great creative outlet as a child.
@jinni
You make me feel so bad. All I created with my dolls were lesbian telenovelas, with tragic deaths and murder and everything.
Fun fact: Barbie wasn’t even the star of the telenovela. The ultimate beauty in my little twisted world was a puppet with wool hair and three eyes. She was the bimbo everyone lusted after. Now that I think about it, Barbie was probably the one who got the least pussy action lol.
@Josefina: LOL at Barbie being supporting casting. Making up soap operas is pretty cool too. Plus, creating multiple interconnecting stories with several dolls is definitely creative.
With you. This is my can of pet peeve.
First, Ruth’s husband owned a furniture company with his brother. They made plastic furniture, later parlayed that into small toy making, then Barbie. Barbie was intended as a fashion doll – Ruth used Bild Lili because she was a 3-dimensional sort of adult doll that could wear doll clothes, was articulated etc. Yes she had boobs because — uh, women have boobs, many of us.
Ranting about Barbie being evil as she has boobs is bizarre to me — first i grew up in a family of tall slim women with small waists and boobs and so she looked like them. She also looked like my mom’s friends (many shapes and sizes and colors) because she was simply an adult, on her own, with a car. Wow! Friends short and tall, wide and narrow—she was just a girl doll who could wear the evening gowns or small jeans and shirts etc my grandmas sewed for her. My friends (all shapes) and I laugh at this whole “Barbie poisoning minds” thing. Barbie was a doll who could have her own car, house, life, old enough to be independent and have a job etc — and a boyfriend — those were the games we played. We could dress her up! She could say things children can’t. Ken had developed chest muscles, right? GI Joe had a beard. Did they ruin the minds of small boys? Where is that outcry? They are DOLLS. I did not expect I had t grow up looking like the stuffed bear on my bed.
Boobs and slim waists were huge decades and centuries before Barbie, anyway — look at the history of fashion, of corsets (even for men), etc. Shape has been past of fashion culture forever and we want to reject it, reject humanity’s attempt to adorn and define itself, because -Barbie? History, people. Heck — look at images of old royalty –QUeen Alexendria perhaps.
THIS SAID — I never had a Barbie growing up.
—-my much older parents were very out of touch — but I played with the extra Barbies of my friends. All shapes, all sizes, we grew up as professional women of all shapes unwarped by playing dress up or “my first apartment” w our Barbies on rainy days. The rest of the time were were outside playing sports — not exactly praying to god for boobs and long legs.
I think the vilification of Barbie pisses me up because I grew up with bigger boobs/smaller waist as did my other European friends and we laugh — “oh no, we are BAD and WRONG because BARBIE IS EVIL because BOOBS and women don’t have BOOBS or WAISTs bad!!” So — all that does is make people like me feel bad about my actual body, eh?
Start attacking everything that tells men to look muscly and ripped because it’s unfair to boys. Then we’ll talk — no wait, go after the Westminster dog show dogs too.
I say, go Reece. This will be a fascinating story and I am glad she’s telling it. And I hope like hell Barbie isn’t portrayed as the crucible of female failure and delusional. By mocking her boobs, we’re doing that to ourselves.
Rant over. Coffee?
Yeah I mean…I don’t have a big stake in this argument because as I said below, I never had any feelings about Barbie growing up beyond the fact that I didn’t own any because dolls are stupid.
That being said, is it bad if the outcome of people complaining about Barbie is toy companies making dolls that represent more normal/average proportions?
Variety is always a good thing IMO.
Oh, I have nothing against that. It just bothers me when they go around painting it like Barbie is making little girls around the world hate themselves. Girls see Barbie for what she is: a toy.
I’ve never gotten the Barbie hate. I’ve always loved Barbie, and playing with her was such an outlet for creativity, I don’t understand why parents hate her? Because boobs? Because unrealistic beauty standards? She’s plastic. A doll. Not human. And I’ve always hated how people make such a big deal about barbie’s body shape. And that is her old body shape, by the way, new barbies are slim with small boobs, like the current popular body type for models. If anything that body type should be just as problematic, but for some reason it’s not.
I played with the old, big boobed barbies, yet it never made me want to grow up and have boobs, just like I never wanted blonde hair because of Barbie. In fact when I started growing boobs I was hit with a load of negativity, that huge boobs and a small waist are unnatural and make you a bimbo, like Barbie. That Barbie would have to walk on all fours if she were real because her boobs were so large (untrue but it gets repeated a lot). It’s gross and all the attacks on Barbie, a doll, are really attacks on real women and feminity in the end.
I’ve never understood why a plastic toy gets the level of hate that it does.
I also collect Integrity Toys (Barbie esque high fashion models) and Barbie Silkstone. After I shared a collection of pictures on Facebook I had a “friend” comment that by posting these pictures, I was supporting eating disorders and putting her daughters at risk. Not really sure why your kids are on your Facebook looking at my profile, but if your kids decide to starve themselves because I posted pictures of my collection that says more about your parenting than how I choose to spend my time and money.
Barbie made me want to own a surf shop and drive a bright pink RV around. No body dysmorphia here.
Agree!!! I played with my Barbies almost exclusively from the age of 6-12 (and then secretly for years afterwards)…. It was a fantastic way to use my imagination to create stories that I would write down in journals. It didn’t stunt me in any way. I went on to earn a doctorate.
I never got them either, it was a doll. I always thought the attacks and still think they are stupid. Parent your child and explain its a doll it’s not based in reality. Although I think children truly see them as toys only. But really I never felt like I could look like Barbie or felt bad about it, I mean I wanted her wardrobe (which you can get if you make enough) and none of my friends felt bad either. Honestly These attacks always came across like an excuse to why people felt bad really a doll sorry no, grow up. The making real people look impossible can but a doll sorry that is ridiculous to me.
I think this movie could be interesting and I didn’t know this much about the founder of Barbie, plus regardless of what you think of the doll she is beyond inspirational and a story that should be told, a woman made the most popular toy let’s tell her story.
I got my older sisters’ Barbies and loved them, even though we never looked like her. No scars. My only gripe is that it used to be you bought one Barbie and and lots of clothes and you could dress her in anything. I was annoyed when I discovered they changed it so that you had to buy each separate Barbie for each career. I have the same gripe about Leggos and all their separate kits.
I do not think I even noticed what my Barbies looked like beyond their hair color and style and what clothes they wore lol.
Me and my best friend had a huge Barbie world build in one of the spare rooms of her home where we had their Barbie city of do end of dolls and we played for years and in the city decades went by and we wrote down compicated family trees on a notebook. We made tiny paper money, including a system of taxes and benefits like child support. We had buch of jobs for them for excample we did a claymation animals for a pet shop. We had a lost of soap-opera style plots for the characters, except we had like 4 male dolls (two Ken dolls and 2 action figures of my friend’s brother) so there was no romance plots really, apart from the weddings lol. Rest of the time the men were away at work or take care of the kids so we could have more male characters than dolls.
I wish we had taken pictures, so stupid. My mother even sold all those Barbies I has not sold myself that I had meant to keep as memories. Maybe I could find the notebook somewhere.
How imaginative, a tax system, child support system. Really you should write to governments with you and your friends systems. It may well improve their systems. Just an aside question: Does Cher still own the rights to Barbie?
I loved my Barbies – had them all, the Malibu Beach Van and surfing stuff, kitchen stuff, camping, horses, all of it! I never once thought I had to look like her when I grew up or I’d be a loser. I never once felt inferior to the Barbies because I hadn’t developed yet or because they had great hair or super long legs. They were pretty dolls that I really enjoyed playing with by myself or with my sister or my friends. I don’t recall any of them being negatively affected by Barbie either.
How is it any different than playing with Raggedy Anne? I didn’t think I was suppose to look like her. I didn’t think I should look like Mrs. Beasley or that when I had a baby, it should look like my Baby Alive or Tiny Tears. They’re dolls. I just don’t get the criticism. Probably the most “sexist” toy I had was a Farrah Faucet head to do her make-up and hair. Very shallow, but some little girls really like the girly stuff and I did. That was actually one of the best Christmases I remember as a child – got my Farrah head, Creepy Crawlers and Fashion Plates. That was an amazing Christmas for me!
@Josefina, I wanna play Barbies with you guys! 😍
A couple of my younger cousins once made an “invisible” Barbie by covering a real one with hot glue. She could fly. Another cousin and I used to frequently make our Barbies and their boyfriends, Jordan and Jon from NKOTB, do the dirty. Which was basically just bumping their crotch areas together for a little while. We had no idea what we were doing, looking back.
Our uncle, their mom and our grandma made us all Barbie houses for Christmas one year, and I wish I still had mine. Barbie was my favorite. As a fat kid, I never felt bad because I didn’t look like her (well, except for wanting to be blonde for a while, but I got over it.) People who blame a doll for others developing disorders are missing the point that focusing on whether or not you resemble a piece of plastic is a symptom of a larger issue. That isn’t really because of the piece of plastic, but the deeper issues of the individual. You never hear about boys who become steroid users because they feel bad for not looking like G.I. Joe.
I understand as I also played with barbies and I don’t think it harmed me.
However, I do remember wishing my hair was blonder even though I was already a blue eyed blonde child, but my hair wasn’t as blonde as barbies and my eyes weren’t as blue as Barbie. I did think of her as ‘beautiful’ and the ‘ideal’. So I can imagine a lot of girls felt similarly and it would be even harder for those further away from the appearance of Barbie if that makes sense.
Come on, Barbie, let’s go party….
It’s going to be stuck in my head ALL DAY now and I’m taking you guys down with me. You’re welcome.
That is so mean, Shambles! I can’t get it out of my head now! 😑
Oh no, you didn’t!! Gah….. Thanks.
Am in the only one thinking of the Simpson and malibu Stacy?!
YES! The creator of Malibu Stacey was quite the character, I always feel that Simpsons storylines (the earlier episodes) could make great movies!
Haha, love the main photo of Reese and Barbie twinsies.
The headline made me think this was going to be a fairly tale of sorts with Reese playing Barbie! Thank goodness it’s not. It sounds like an interesting story but I sadly don’t imagine most of the public lining up to see it.
Thanks! I only have Photoshop Elements now or I would have cleaned up the lines around Barbie a little better.
I actually did think it was real for a second, that this was how Reese announced the project! And then I realized an actual Barbie would be much tinier. So nice work even with the basic tools.
Me too. I thought for sure Reese was trying to play Barbie because….of course. Glad I was wrong and shame on me!
I’d rather be a sparrow than a snail
Omg, booxe hound, Reese is milking every last bit of her opportunities before the inevitable.
It will bomb. Bye.
Better than I thought.
It’s sad Reese is talented but I think she is so too faced after the drunken video where she asks the cops something like don’t you know who I am?
I feel we have to believe when people show us who they really are but I guess her insane narcasism also motivates her to stand up and make films for women. Even if I want to punch out her mean girl real attitude!
I have never been able to look at her the same since that incident. She always looks so smug.
Me too. Honestly, looking back, the only thing I’ve ever really liked her in was Man in the Moon – her very first movie and she was just a child. I suspect once she hit puberty, she was never a very nice person. She just comes off so conceited and self-important and I don’t get it. Aside from being smallish and blonde, I’ve never got a hot vibe from her.
I loved that movie and ITA–that was the only flick I’ve ever liked her in. I’m just not a fan and never will be.
Also, we’re probably like, 2 of the 5 people who have ever seen Man on The Moon 😉
Sounds a little like Joy right? Riding the coat tails of that…. guess we’re in for more biopics like this.
Funny, my thought on reading the article was that it sounds MUCH more interesting than Joy- Barbie vs a broom/mop? No contest there. I throughly enjoyed Wild, and hope this is as good as that one.
Gah! I was just about to comment that this sounded like Joy-The Prequel.
Only if there is a scene with Ruth and her trusty shotgun in the midst of creating her doll.
MTE
Finally Reese in a good that seems fun! I cant even believe she did a movie with that horrendous Sophia lady! Just awful. Her drama roles werent the best the last few runs. Trying to be nice
Ever since her “do you know who I am?” moment I’m not really into watching her movies.
Is it wrong that I’m still into Barbies? I don’t play with them or anything like I did when I was a child but I have a collection tucked away in an unused suitcase and occasionally, I’ll take one out and style its hair or change her different outfit. When I first got my own place, I had an Ikea style wall unit on which they were displayed in my bedroom. I had accessories and everything so I’d set out scenes in different sections. It was a great stress reliever for me.
Anyways. I’m not Reese’s biggest fan but I applaud her for saying this: “Films with women at the center are not a public service project. They are a big-time, bottom line-enhancing, money-making commodity.”
Right on!
That’s cute, I Choose 🙂
Growing up I was a total tomboy who never liked dolls despite the fact that my mom is/was an amazing doll-maker. Thankfully, she also made awesome stuffed animals 😉
Not wrong at all. I treasure mine because they have a wardrobe of 70s fashions that my mom painstakingly sewed and crocheted by hand. They’re really amazing, but of course at the time I was upset that I didn’t have many of the store bought outfits that my friends had.
I can’t, however, display mine because unfortunately they all got haircuts when I decided their long hair wasn’t suited to them anymore. 🙁
I still love my old barbies and if I had room i might put them on display. They are like works of art, some of them, others hold many good memories. I’ve been known to buy a new Barbie every now and then and hold on to it instead of gifting it to a younger family member 😉
I’m 34, and I still do this. I also make doll clothes (for my nieces, usually) and I agree. It’s a fun way to zone out. And sometimes, I set up scenes to photograph and make sort of comics out of, to share with my sister and friends. Barbie is an airhead, other Barbie is pretty basic, but Midge is a real puta when she feels like it! 😉
Say what you will about Barbie, it’s a story worth telling. I preferred legos, myself but I had an imitation, slightly less buxom knockoff doll (that my mom didn’t object to as much as Barbie) that provided hours of entertainment acting out imaginary teen dramas, which boy to choose?
I read the book “Barbie and Ruth” a few years ago….fascinating. I’m impressed that Reese is taking this on.
How on earth is she going to get Barbie’s body measurements though? LOL.
I still love Barbie, i wish i still had some of mine, to give to my daughter. And i love all the different careers, which was always endless.