The hit movie Barbie is clearly not
for everyone and not for the first
time, a big Hollywood movie has
divided and then commercially
ruled. I am reminded, yet again, that
the last reaction a creative wants
to his or her work, is indifference. If
some hate the work, others will love
it, and vice versa. The British call it
'the marmite effect'.
The film is so removed from the norm
that it is difficult to base a critique
on comparatives. But there has been
much to admire in the relentless
and global marketing campaign for
Barbie and when I was recently in
LA I had an idea to use the towering
billboards in our own parody.
Sunset Boulevard is an iconic road
and has rightly earned its place in
the history of Americana. We have
filmed here a few times on a Sunday
morning and secured permits to
close a section down for 90 minutes
at sunrise. But on those occasions,
we always worked with the sun and
looked west from the section below
Chateau Marmont.
But for this Barbie shot, the
billboards demanded we shoot the
other way and into the sun. This
meant we had a very tight window
of opportunity before the light was
coming right at us at 180 degrees.
We want to have fun and tell stories.
Barbie has been a huge commercial
success and in a city that judges all
on success and relevance, there is no
doubt that in this summer of 2023,
Barbie has been the Hollywood
story. It’s all so bizarre and so very
LA.
