Reese Witherspoon has been open about her desire to bring more female-led stories to cinemas, and she's definitely following through if reports that she's jumped on the opportunity to make a movie about Barbie are true.
Tracking Board reports that Reese and her production company Pacific Standard have secured the rights to Robin Gerber’s 2010 biography about Ruth Handler, who created the original Barbie. Other sources confirm that plans to make a movie of Barbie And Ruth: The Story of the World’s Most Famous Doll and the Woman Who Created Her are going ahead.
The book chronicles how Ruth “and her product changed an industry and sparked a lasting debate about women’s roles.” In case you don't know the story of how Barbie came to be, it goes a little like this: Ruth watched as her daughter Barbara (aka. Barbie) became frustrated with dressing her paper dolls and in a eureka moment decided to fashion an alternative, inspired by novelty toys. They were adapted by her husband's company Mattel for children. And the rest, as they say, is history!
In the here and now, Barbie in her orginal form is seen as pretty problematic to body image thanks to her unobtainable proportions, elevated ankles and ever-present war paint - factors which have all led Mattel to branch out into diversified dolls in recent years. So, we're wondering how the movie might go about tackling the issues of feminine identity tied up with the doll. Though, with we can't think of anyone better than Reese to tackle the project - an AskBetterQuestions campaigner and champion of women in the film industry, there's no doubt the finished product thought-provoking as well as funny.
Coincidentally, Reese is also in talks to play Barbie in a Sony movie about how the doll uses the skills she's learned to help others. 2016 is going to see Reese immersed in a Barbie world, that's for sure.