Barbie Movie Trailer Teases Greta Gerwig’s Meta Mattel film starring Margot Robbie

The first trailer for the upcoming Barbie movie has arrived at last, pulling back the curtain just a little on the meta movie from director Greta Gerwig. Coming courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures, Barbie stars Academy Award nominee Margot Robbie as the titular Mattel product, and promises to be a subversive look at the life and times of Barbie and Ken. Check out the first trailer for Barbie below.

Directed by Academy Award nominee Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird, Little Women), who has co-written the screenplay with fellow Academy Award nominee Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story, Fantastic Mr. Fox), the Barbie movie stars Margot Robbie as Barbie, with yet another Academy Award nominee, Ryan Gosling (Drive, La La Land) all set to star as Ken.

Barbie has amassed a stellar supporting cast alongside Robbie and Gosling, including America Ferrera (Superstore, Ugly Betty), Kate McKinnon (Saturday Night Live, Ghosbusters), Ariana Greenblatt (Love and Monsters), Alexandra Shipp (X-Men: Apocalypse), Emma Mackey (Sex Educations, Death on the Nile), Kingsley Ben-Adir (One Night in Miami…), Michael Cera (Superbad), Rhea Perlman (Cheers, Matilda), Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman), Sharon Rooney (My Mad Fat Diary, Dumbo), Scott Evans (The Lovely Bones), Ana Cruz Kayne (Another Earth), Connor Swindells (Sex Education, SAS Rogue Heroes), Ritu Arya (The Umbrella Academy), Jamie Demetriou (Fleabag), Marisa Abela (Industry), and Will Ferrell (Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy) as the CEO of Mattel.

The Barbie movie will also feature several different versions of Barbie and Ken. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star Simu Liu will star as a Ken alongside Sex Education and Doctor Who star Ncuti Gatwa. Meanwhile, The Hate U Give and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Issa Rae will star as a Barbie alongside Assassination Nation’s Hari Nef.

Will Ferrell Has Described the Barbie Movie as ‘the Ultimate Example of High art and Low Art’

In the first of what’s sure to be many meta moves, the hugely popular comedic actor Will Ferrell will star in Barbie as the CEO of Mattel in the movie. A character that Ferrell has described as “insensitive” and “weird.”

“It is, in my humble opinion, the ultimate example of high art and low art,” the Anchorman star said of the project. “It’s a loving homage to the brand and, at the same time, couldn’t be more satirical — just an amazing comment on male patriarchy and women in society and why Barbie’s criticized and yet why every little girl still wants to play with Barbie. Boy, when I read it, I was like, ‘This is fantastic.’”

His co-star Simu Liu meanwhile was instantly enamored with this meta approach to the Barbie movie saying, “This is the type of movie that I love, unabashedly. It’s smart, it’s subversive, and it’s meta, and it makes fun of itself. How did they understand it enough to green light it? I think that’s props to not only Greta but also to Margot Robbie and Tom Ackerley who produced it.”

Barbie is scheduled to be released in the United States on July 21, 2023, by Warner Bros. Pictures.