As hard as it is to believe, there was a time in American film culture when the closest one came to a Barbie film was The Kentucky Fried Movie. In a pre-Pirates Of The Caribbean Hollywood, movies weren’t based on brands as much—least of all, brands that don’t have a strong narrative thrust. In the 90s, people couldn’t imagine looking at a Barbie doll or Haunted Mansion ride and saying, “Let’s throw $100 million at that and get us a hit.” Also, Hollywood was even more sexist and male-dominated than it is now. Just ask Sharon Stone, who says she pitched a Barbie movie in the 90s and was “laughed out of the studio.”
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Stone briefly recounted her experience trying to get Barbie made on Instagram, responding to America Ferrera’s inspired #SeeHer award speech at this year’s Critics’ Choice Awards. “I was laughed out [of] the studio when I came [with] the Barbie idea in the ’90s [with] the support of the head of Barbie,” she commented on Ferrera’s post that included the speech. “How far we’ve come thank you ladies for your courage and endurance.”
After becoming the biggest star in the world, thanks to Basic Instinct, Stone faced a backlash for being successful and beautiful. Of course, this mostly came from the Razzies, who insisted on handing her Golden Raspberries because there’s nothing the Razzies hate more than a successful female actor. Still, she made The Quick And The Dead and Casino in the same year while the Razzies continued their multi-decade fight for relevancy. In the past, Stone has told numerous horror stories from working in Hollywood. She accused a former Sony executive of exposing himself and her co-stars of misogyny (not De Niro and Pesci, though).