Senior doctors are already set to strike this week – but now they will also strike for two days in August.
NHS consultant strikes: BMA announces two more walkouts
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Government to miss 40 new hospitals target – watchdog
The National Audit Office has found the project is behind schedule and not delivering value for money.
‘Body Doubling’ Could Be The Answer For Serial Procrastinators
What are you putting off right now? For me, it’s sorting out my clothes into a pile to keep and a pile to donate. It’s been months. OK, fine. It’s been a year.
I just can’t bring myself to do it. Now that I’ve admitted mine, you can admit yours (to yourself, don’t worry).
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There’s something about these tasks that – for some of us – feels so overwhelming, so impossible, when, in reality, they’d usually take no more than a couple of hours to sort and finally tick off our mental to-do list.
This is why some people are trying the ‘body doubling’ method.
No, it’s not quite the Hollywood version where somebody who looks like you does the hard parts (though this would be ideal).
Instead, it’s when you tackle these somehow mountainous tasks with the help of somebody else. Not by having them do anything for you, but instead just being present while you’re getting through the task.
Why does body doubling work?
Catherine, a civil servant from Scotland, who has ADHD, said that body doubling, even if it’s just done over FaceTime, keeps her accountable without the other person ever actually having to hold her to account.
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“It’s almost as if having them there reminds me to do the thing – [they’re] a comforting reminder, and somebody that helps me stay motivated to complete the task,” she says.
Some creators have tapped into this helpful hack by creating “study with me” videos that people have watched whilst getting through their own work.
Even the digital presence of somebody else can remind people to stay on track and keep them motivated.
How to find a body double for productivity support
According to ADDA, the world’s largest organisation dedicated to helping adults with ADHD ‘live better lives’, when looking for a body double you need to “find someone who can be quiet and independent”.
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The idea is that they can sit, read, knit, or work quietly on a laptop. Their job is to not engage with you – they’re just there in the background.
“It requires energy to instruct, supervise, or be interrupted by another person, and that expenditure of energy equates to distraction,” says ADDA.
They also add that you can hire outside help if need be, such as an assistant.
However, for some people, a ‘study with me’ video, a loved one on FaceTime or even working from a cafe with others around them is enough to keep them motivated and on-track.
It might actually be time to tackle that task.
Kemi Badenoch Put On The Spot Over Failure To Sign US-UK Free Trade Deal
Business secretary Kemi Badenoch was put on the spot on Sunday morning over the failure of the government to secure a free trade deal with United States, as had been promised by many Brexiteers.
In an interview with the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Badenoch was repeatedly pressed on the topic.
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“There is no sign of that American trade deal that is promised,” Kuenssberg said.
“That Brexit promise of a sort of buccaneering Britain massively benefiting from trading around the world, that just has not come to pass has it?”
Badenoch said the lack of a trade deal with the US was because of the “change of administration” from Donald Trump to Joe Biden.
“We can’t force other countries to do things that are different from what they want to do,” she said.
Kuenssberg pressed: “But that was a promise that was made to British voters.”
Badenoch said: “That was an agreement that was had with the previous president. You cannot force countries to join free trade agreements.”
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Kuenssberg added: “So, it was a promise then that you were never going to be able to keep?”
A free trade deal with the US was one of the main selling points for Brexiteers in the run-up to the 2016 referendum.
But Liz Truss finally admitted in September last year – during her short time as prime minister – that it was not going to happen any time soon.
Rishi Sunak also conceded on a trip to Washington in June that an agreement was no longer “a priority” for either side.
Badenoch was speaking to the programme from New Zealand signed the UK up to the the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
The trade zone of around 500 million people includes Australia, Canada, Mexico, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
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Badenoch hailed the agreement as having “so much potential” as “the world is our oyster”.
But the government’s own assessment of the deal suggests it could add only 0.08% to the size of the UK’s economy in 10 years.
Keir Starmer Says Labour Will Keep The Tory Two-Child Benefits Cap
Keir Starmer has said he would keep the Conservative government’s controversial two-child cap on benefits if Labour win the election.
The announcement is likely to anger many within his own party as the policy has been condemned for “pushing families into deep poverty”.
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Under the cap, parents are not able to claim child tax credit or universal credit for any third or subsequent child born after April 2017.
It was designed to try and force parents of larger families to fin new jobs or work more hours.
The policy was described just last month by Labour’s shadow work and pensions secretary Jon Ashworth as “heinous”.
In February 2020, Starmer said in a tweet he wanted to “scrap” it in order to “tackle the vast social injustice in our country”.
Speaking to the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme this morning, the Labour leader was asked if the cap would be removed.
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But Starmer said: “We are not changing that policy.”
Later in the interview he said that “of course” it was worth him angering people on the left of Labour if it was necessary to win the election.
“The Labour Party was created to give working people not just representation in parliament but a government in parliament that can govern on their behalf and change the lives of millions of people for the better,” he said.
“I have been changing the Labour Party to put us in a position where we are now credible contenders for the next election.”
The Child Poverty Action Group (Cpag) has warned the cap is “pushing families into deep poverty”.
According to the charity, it affects 1.5 million children including 1.1 million children growing up in poverty, with their families are missing out on up to £3,235 a year.
“The impact of growing up in poverty can be lifelong,” it warned. “Abolishing the two-child limit is the most cost-effective way of reducing child poverty.
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Cpag said scrapping it – at a cost of £1.3bn – would lift 250,000 children out of poverty, and a further 850,000 children would be in less deep poverty.
In an interview with the Daily Mirror on June 3, Ashworth said the cap was “absolutely keeping children in poverty”.
“At this stage we are not outlining our full universal credit reform policy but we are certainly determined to tackle child poverty,” he said.
“We are very, very aware that this is one of the single most heinous elements of the system which is pushing children and families into poverty today.”
During a debate in parliament last week, Labour MP Kim Johnson joined with many Labour MPs to call for Starmer to commit to ditching the cap.
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“We need to end this horrendous two-child policy and ensure all children have the opportunity to thrive and grow and not live in poverty,” she said.
“The cap has done immeasurable damage to so many families in this country, impacting poverty and driving more families into poverty.”
Humza Yousaf, the Scottish first minister, said: “Poverty experts say scrapping the two-child limit would lift up to 15,000 children in Scotland out of poverty.
“Why on earth is Starmer committed to keeping this cruel Tory policy? Only the SNP offer real change and the chance to escape Westminster control with independence.”
Kristin Davis Shares One Key Difference Between Herself And Her Sex And The City Character
Kristin Davis has played Charlotte York for so long, it’s sometimes hard to separate the actor from her Sex And The City character.
But the And Just Like That star recently revealed that she has one distinct difference from twice-married Charlotte, in that she never wants marriage for herself.
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“We have very different lifestyles, you know?” Kristin said of her on-screen persona during an appearance on the Best Friend Energy podcast.
“I’m not married, I have never been married ― it’s not my thing,” she continued. “I was never focused on it. It was never, like, a goal, let’s say?”
While one of the hosts pointed out that Charlotte was incredibly focused on finding a husband, Kristin quipped: “I know, and that took some acting, let me tell you. It really did.”
Kristin said Charlotte’s obsession with finding a husband and getting married would stress her out at times, as she would struggle to make her lines “real and believable”.
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But she loved how the writers shifted Charlotte’s “narrow” way of thinking about marriage over time.
“Her first husband looks so perfect and everything was so beautiful, but yet it was not perfect,” she said of her character’s on-screen marriage to Trey MacDougal (played by Kyle MacLachlan).
“And then, of course, we meet the wonderful Harry (Evan Handler) and everything is perfect. So I loved it, but it definitely took some work in the beginning.”
And despite not wanting to be married herself, Davis said she “loved” her first on-screen wedding on SATC.
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“I’m not really a wedding girl. But you know, Charlotte loved it, so I loved it,” she said, adding that she tried on around 35 Vera Wang dresses before finding the perfect one.
Kristin has spoken about her single status many times before. She’s made it clear that if anyone were to join her life, they would have to be the perfect fit for her family. The actor has two children ― Gemma and Wilson ― whom she adopted in 2011 and 2018.
“I certainly intellectually feel like I’d like to have another romantic relationship, but I don’t know how to make the day-to-day of it happen. I don’t have time!” she told Haute Living back in 2013.
“It has to be someone so awesome that I would bring him in and potentially share time with Gemma.”
Che Diaz’s Disrespect Of Miranda Is Hard To Watch
There’s been no end to the discourse among fans and critics over how And Just Like That is progressing.
The show has made for uncomfortable viewing on more than one occasion — from poorly executed storylines about transgender people to Carrie’s rampant ageism. However, nothing has felt quite so uncomfortable as watching Che’s continued lack of respect for Miranda.
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Given the lack of diversity that dogged Sex And The City many fans welcomed the presence of a prominent nonbinary character and the exploration of LGBTQIA+ relationships beyond cisgender gay men and women.
Unfortunately, what fans envisioned hasn’t aligned with what appears on-screen. As much as many of us have tried to embrace the complexities of Sara Ramirez’s character, Che’s unlikable personality has made it difficult.
No, a character doesn’t need to be likable for a show to succeed — we’re looking at you, Carrie — but the fact that Che represents a marginalised community not regularly seen in the media meant scrutiny would be swift and acute.
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Those of us who identify as nonbinary want to see a multifaceted, nuanced character who doesn’t adhere to stereotypes. By challenging stereotypes, such characters can break down misinformation about gender nonconformity.
Instead, Che only succeeds in reaffirming them. Most notably in episode four of season two, Alive!, Che assumes Miranda will be OK with a threesome with Che’s estranged husband, Lyle.
All the tell-tale signs were there that Che and Lyle’s relationship was still close, and so seeing the two finally in bed together wasn’t a shock. What was, however, was Che ignoring Miranda’s feelings by instigating a threesome without prior consent.
It was tough enough not to cringe at Che expecting Miranda to sleep in the same bed as Lyle, with the cringe factor only intensifying when Che starts making out with Miranda right next to him. But sex is still very much at the heart of the show, and the thrill of maybe being caught is one many viewers can understand.
Less understandable is Lyle joining in without asking, apparently not as asleep as everyone thought. Nor is it acceptable that Che asks a half-hearted “Are you OK with this?” before continuing.
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Cynthia Nixon plays the shock well, with her character Miranda admitting that she needs a second because her initial response is to say no. Even when Miranda eventually says it’s OK and tries to join in, Cynthia’s character represents someone tentatively exploring multiple sex partners with uncertainty.
The issue with the scene isn’t the threesome. And Just Like That would vastly improve if we saw more than monogamous, heterosexual, cis couples having perfectly choreographed sex. No, the problem is the lack of communication, as well as blatant disregard for potential boundaries.
Che never asked Miranda about threesomes prior to this; the couple hasn’t really discussed much of anything in terms of having sexual transparency. Such a portrayal is already questionable for a monogamous couple, but add into the mix a polyamorous one, and the need for authentic representation is crucial.
Nowhere in AJLT has a polyamorous throuple been discussed, so this might not be what Che and Miranda’s relationship will become. Still, while their relationship isn’t set in stone, the importance of communication and trust, especially in a multiple partnered setting, is crucial.
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At every stage of the relationship, Miranda is on the back foot, struggling to find her equilibrium because Che doesn’t offer her any. In episode five, Trick Or Treat, we see how an ill-equipped Che lashes out at Miranda after their TV show is canceled.
The way they shut Miranda down, talking to her as if she’s never experienced loss, speaks of the sheer ignorance Che has when it comes to other people.
It also doesn’t matter that this is a comedy series – that doesn’t excuse feeding the fires of misinformation and stereotypes of LGBTQIA+ people being promiscuous. Moreover, it doesn’t help challenge the outdated beliefs that Sex And The City relied upon, largely due to when it was released.
But it isn’t just the fact that Che’s character is a walking red flag that’s the only problem here — it’s also that the creators chose Che for such a subplot.
Yes, you could argue that Che and Miranda are an obvious choice because their relationship is new, and a lot of the other characters are married. However, that argument is flimsy at best: Carrie is single now, Sarita Choudhury’s Seema is also single, and Dr. Nya (Karen Pittman) has left her husband and is looking to find herself.
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Each one of these characters could embark on the same journey as Miranda, yet they don’t. Although only the writers could say with certainty why that is, but the concern is that it’s because the creators know such a story wouldn’t track well with fans. (TV and film writers, including those who worked on “And Just Like That” are currently on strike over pay and working conditions.)
Fans already dislike Che and Miranda together; they have ever since their affair in season one. Consequently, having these two unlikable characters testing out less traditional sexual activities is a safer bet.
If viewers don’t like it, it simply reaffirms how “awful” these characters are, which some fans enjoy because they relish seeing unfavourable protagonists feeling the swift justice of karma.
Unfortunately, the characters in the line of fire here are the ones who are representing a marginalised group that’s deeply misunderstood. Due to the weight of that reality, AJLT needs to start thinking about Che beyond filling the role of anti-hero and almost villain in the series.
Inside Barbie Land: 19 Behind-The-Scenes Secrets From The New Barbie Movie
Bringing the most iconic doll in the world to life on the big screen is no small feat – but if the first reactions from critics are anything to go by, it seems like Greta Gerwig has pulled it off with her Barbie movie.
As soon as the first trailer dropped earlier this year, it was clear that Greta, along with star and executive producer Margot Robbie and the rest of the film’s production team, went to painstaking lengths to immerse viewers in Barbie’s plastic fantastic world.
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The film features full-size Dream House sets, costumes inspired by famous Barbie looks and even nods to Barbie controversies (like the inclusion of pregnant Midge, a doll who caused outrage upon release) – the attention to detail looks impeccable.
From Greta’s unusual pitch to film executives to the cameos that didn’t happen and Ryan Gosling’s costume brainwave, these behind-the-scenes facts should tide you over until the film arrives on Friday 21 July…
The woman who inspired Barbie’s name has a cameo in the film
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If you’ve watched the Barbie trailer over and over again (guilty!), you might be familiar with one sequence showing Margot’s character meeting an older lady on a park bench, who tells her: “Humans get one ending. Ideas live forever.”
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That woman is none other Barbara Handler, who the first ever Barbie was named after. She’s the daughter of Barbie inventor Ruth Handler (who also named Ken after her son, Kenneth).
The production used so much pink paint, they ‘cleaned out’ their suppliers
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Bringing Barbie Land to life required a lot of pink paint. So much, it turns out, that the film industry’s go-to paint suppliers, Rosco, basically had to hand over all their stock.
Lauren Proud, Rosco’s vice president of global marketing, confirmed that the film “used as much paint as we had” in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.
“There was this shortage, and then we gave them everything we could,” she explained.
This Barbie doesn’t need CGI effects
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Sure, Christopher Nolan may have recreated a nuclear explosion without CGI for Oppenheimer, but Barbie still features some pretty impressive practical effects of its own too.
In one instantly memorable shot from the film’s trailer, we see Barbie step out of her fluffy high heels, only for her feet to remain perfectly arched (just like the doll’s).
Greta decided against using CGI for Barbie’s feet (perhaps she’s still traumatised by the Cats movie). “I thought, ‘Oh god, no! That’s terrifying! That’s a nightmare’,” she told The Project.
The shot eventually took “about eight takes”, according to Margot. “I was holding on to a bar, but that’s it,” she told Fandango. “I wasn’t in a harness or anything. I just walked up and kind of held onto the bar above camera.”
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Margot and Greta had to perform a scene for a Mattel exec to win him over
According to TIME magazine, at one point during production, Mattel’s Chief Operating Officer Richard Dickson flew over to London to intervene as he believed that one scene was “off-brand” for Barbie.
“[Dickson] says he took a flight to the London set to argue with Gerwig and Robbie over a particular scene, which he felt was off-brand,” the report says. “But Gerwig and Robbie performed the scene for him and changed his mind.” Who could argue with that?
A chance encounter with a Ken doll persuaded Ryan to take the role
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After reading the Barbie script, Ryan headed outside to mull things over.
“I walked out in the backyard and you know where I found Ken?” he told Jimmy Fallon during an appearance on The Tonight Show. “Face down in the mud next to a squished lemon.”
He took a photo of poor downtrodden Ken, and sent it to Greta.
“I shall be your Ken,” he wrote in the message. “For his story must be told.”
He also came up with the idea that Ken would wear his own branded underwear
Warner Bros./Jaap Buitendijk
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When the first promotional picture showing Ryan in full Ken get-up, complete with bleach blond hair, landed online last year, fans quickly honed in on one hilarious detail: the fact that Ken’s underwear was specially branded with his name on the waistband.
According to costume designer Jacqueline Durran, the idea came from the actor, who had the brainwave in a late fitting. “We just rushed to make it,” she told Vogue.
The Barbie gang attended ‘movie church’ during filming…
When production was in full swing, Margot’s production company LuckyChap put on weekly film screenings at Notting Hill’s Electric Cinema, a tradition which came to be known as “movie church”.
The films on the line-up included titles that had inspired Greta’s Barbie vision, including the likes of The Wizard Of Oz, The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg and The Red Shoes.
… had a fancy sleepover in a London hotel…
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That wasn’t the only event that the cast got to attend together. Before filming kicked off, Greta hosted a Barbie sleepover at Claridges and invited some of the female cast (the Kens could attend too, but they weren’t allowed to stay the night).
“Honestly, it just felt like it would be the most fun way to kick everything off,” the director told The Guardian. “And it’s something you don’t get to do that much as an adult. Like, ‘I’m just going to go have a sleepover with my friends…’”
… And went on a night out to see Magic Mike Live
In an interview with Rolling Stone UK, Ncuti Gatwa (who plays one of the Kens) described the cast’s trip to Magic Mike Live as “one of the best nights of my life”.
“I don’t know how I made it through any filming in the week after, my voice was gone from screaming so much,” he admitted. “The videos in the group chat the next morning were the best.
“Greta Gerwig’s assistant was pulled up on stage and given a lap dance and Greta was screaming in delight. Afterwards, we went and danced our hearts out. Margot is a very, very good party host. She’s queen of the vibes.”
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Margot left a special ‘beach-related’ gift for Ryan every day during filming
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Not only did Margot help cast and crew get into the Barbie spirit by mandating a “pink day” dress code once a week on set, she also channeled her character by providing her co-star with some extremely on-brand gifts.
“[Margot] left a pink present with a pink bow, from Barbie to Ken, every day while we were filming,” Ryan told Vogue earlier this year. “They were all beach-related. Like puka shells, or a sign that says ‘Pray for surf’. Because Ken’s job is just beach. I’ve never quite figured out what that means. But I felt like she was trying to help Ken understand, through those gifts that she was giving.”
Oh, and Margot took that ‘pink day’ very seriously
“Margot had this pink day once a week, where everyone had to wear something pink,” Ryan told People magazine.
“If you didn’t, you were fined. She would go around collecting the fines, and she would donate it to a charity.”
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Greta wrote Mattel and Warner Bros executives a ‘surreal’ poem to get them on side
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As part of her initial pitch, Greta came up with a poem that she has since described as “surreal” in an interview with The Guardian.
So far, she’s kept quiet on the poem’s contents, but she has likened it to religious writings like the Apostle’s Creed, a Christian prayer, and the lament of Job.
“Shockingly, it does actually communicate some of the vibe of the movie,” she said.
Greta really wanted these two long-time collaborators to make a cameo – but the timings didn’t work
Saoirse Ronan and Timothée Chalamet appeared in Greta’s first two solo directorial efforts, Lady Bird and Little Women, and the filmmaker had lined up Barbie cameo roles for them too. Unfortunately, the timing didn’t work out, with Saoirse working on an adaptation of The Outrun and Timothée also being ridiculously in-demand.
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“It was always going to have to be like a sort of smaller thing because [Saoirse] was actually producing at the time, which I am so proud of her for,” Greta told CinemaBlend.
“And of course, it’s brilliant. But it was going to be a specialty cameo. I was also going to do a specialty cameo with Timmy.
“Both of them couldn’t do it and I was so annoyed. But I love them so much. But it felt like doing something without my children. I mean, I’m not their mom, but I sort of feel like their mom.”
There was another star who didn’t make it into the film either
“Gal Gadot is Barbie energy,” Margot explained.
“Because Gal Gadot is so impossibly beautiful, but you don’t hate her for being that beautiful, because she’s so genuinely sincere, and she’s so enthusiastically kind, that it’s almost dorky. It’s like right before being a dork.”
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Unfortunately for Margot and Greta, however, Gal wasn’t available at the time of filming either, meaning we never got to see the Wonder Woman star in Barbie Land.
Margot’s connections with Chanel shaped Barbie’s wardrobe
The majority of Margot’s outfits were custom-made by Jacqueline Durran and her team, but “if Margot wears anything that we didn’t make, it’s pretty much Chanel,” the costume designer told Vogue.
Margot has been an ambassador for the French fashion house since 2018, and the company “sent us anything and everything that we wanted”.
Margot didn’t initially think she’d be the one to play Barbie
Barbie’s journey to the big screen has been a long one. First, Amy Schumer was cast in the role, but later left the project when it became clear that it didn’t align with her vision for the film.
She later revealed that an early sign was when the team behind the movie sent her a pair of Manolo Blahniks to celebrate her hiring. “The idea that that’s just what every woman must want, right there, I should have gone, ‘You’ve got the wrong gal,’” she told The Hollywood Reporter last year.
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Anne Hathaway then joined the film, but plans fell through.
And even when Margot’s LuckyChap production took the helm, it still wasn’t a given that she would take the lead role, eventually being announced in July 2019, two years before Greta signed on to direct.
The Barbie dreamhouse sets play with scale to make the actors appear more doll-like
In Barbie Land, all the proportions are deliberately a little bit off.
Set decorator Katie Spencer told Architectural Digest that they adjusted the dreamhouse rooms to be 23% smaller than the usual human size. So, for example, the ceilings were “quite close to one’s head”, as Greta put it, “and it only takes a few paces to cross the room”, as would be the case in an actual Barbie house.
The overall effect was to make the actors “seem big in the space but small overall”.
There’s no writing in the Barbie Land sets
You won’t see any proper writing in Barbie Land – instead, the Barbies communicate through scribbles, Margot explained.
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“There’s no actual writing in Barbie Land,” she told Architectural Digest. “It’s just scribbled the way kids kind of write endless amounts of, you know, nothing. But it’s all very beautiful.”
Playing Ken helped Ryan ‘make peace’ with his Disney Channel days
Before Ryan was an Oscar-nominated movie star, he was an all-singing, all-dancing member of The Mickey Mouse Club (you’ve almost certainly seen the video clips of his fancy footwork). He thought he’d turned his back on his Mouseketeer past, but playing Ken helped him reconnect with his inner child star.
“At a certain point I thought I had left that kid behind, and I realized that I needed his help to make this movie,” he told EW. “So I had to go back and make peace with him and ask for his help. It was good for me.” We’re certain that his Disney past came in useful when he was filming his epic musical number, “I’m Just Ken”.
Barbie arrives in UK cinemas on Friday 21 July. Watch the trailer below:
