Barbie inspired Dunham to exit the Mattel-based movie.
Following the cultural phenomenon of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie, the world of toy-inspired movies does not seem to be slowing down. One project that actually predates Barbie‘s debut is a Polly Pocket movie, which was announced in early 2022 with Emily in Paris star Lily Collins set to star as the titular doll. The Polly Pocket movie was set to be written and directed by Lena Dunham, but it sounds like that is no longer the case. In a recent profile with The New Yorker, Dunham confirmed that she is no longer attached to the Polly Pocket movie, in part because of the success of Gerwig’s Barbie movie. According to Dunham, she would rather dedicate her energy towards an original project, as opposed to something made by a major studio.
“I’m not going to make the Polly Pocket movie,” Dunham announced. “I wrote a script, and I was working on it for three years. But I remember someone once said to me about Nancy Meyers: the thing that’s the most amazing about her is that the movie she makes or the movie she would be making with or without a studio, with or without notes — that somehow her taste manages to intersect perfectly with what the world wants. What a f-cking gift that is. And Nora Ephron, too, who was such a mentor to me, but always said, ‘Go be weird. Don’t kowtow to anyone.'”
“I think Greta [Gerwig] managed this incredible feat [with Barbie], which was to make this thing that was literally candy to so many different kinds of people and was perfectly and divinely Greta,” Dunham continued. “And I just — I felt like, unless I can do it that way, I’m not going to do it. I don’t think I have that in me. I feel like the next movie I make needs to feel like a movie that I absolutely have to make. No one but me could make it. And I did think other people could make Polly Pocket.”
What Is the Polly Pocket Movie About?
Plot details remain unknown about Polly Pocket, outside of the film being described as “a family comedy.” Mattel Films boss Robbie Brenner previously expressed high hopes for the project.
“First of all, they are two of my favorite ladies ever,” Brenner previously told Variety. “It’s been an amazing collaboration. Lena is so collaborative and rolls up her sleeves and really likes to roll around in notes and listen. She’s incredible. Lily is so smart and so specific and so productorial. It’s just been an incredible collaboration, so we are thrilled about it. Hopefully, we’ll be making that at some point in the future.”
