Amy Schumer Reveals The Real Reason She Dropped Out Of The Barbie Movie

After having previously been in talks to star in and rewrite the long-gestating project, Amy Schumer has revealed the real reason she dropped out of the Barbie movie. Produced by and starring Margot Robbie, the adaptation of the Mattel doll will see the real Barbie kicked out of Barbieland due to having an existential crisis, with Ryan Gosling’s Ken joining her for her search for true happiness. Co-written and directed by three-time Oscar nominee Greta Gerwig, Barbie is gearing up to make a splash in theaters this summer, going up against Oppenheimer at the box office.

During a recent appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Amy Schumer was asked about her departure from the long-in-development Barbie movie. The comedian revealed that, though it was reported she dropped out due to scheduling conflicts, she exited over creative differences on the project, namely that it “didn’t feel feminist and cool” enough. See what Schumer explained in the quotes and video below:

After a number of direct-to-video animated movies, development on a proper Barbie adaptation kicked off in 2009, but took a very long-winded road. The project memorably shifted hands between multiple studios, including Universal Pictures and Sony Pictures, where Juno’s Diablo Cody had been tapped to rewrite the screenplay, followed by Schumer, who would’ve co-written a new draft with her sister, Kim Caramele, as well as star.

As noted before, Schumer departed the movie just a few months after entering negotiations, with reports of scheduling conflicts now debunked by the Emmy winner. Sony initially tried to forge on ahead with Anne Hathaway being eyed for the titular role and Alethea Jones approached to direct the Barbie movie, only for the studio losing the rights to the character and Warner Bros. subsequent acquisition resulting in them starting from scratch across the board.

Following the decade of troubled development, the Barbie movie finally found some stable ground with Robbie signing on to star in and produce the long-gestating project and Gerwig brought on to direct and co-write with partner Noah Baumbach after Wonder Woman’s Patty Jenkins was briefly considered. While it’s unclear how different the current vision of the movie is to when Schumer was involved, her ongoing support for the project is at least a good sign that the creative differences were still relatively amicable, a rarity with major project departures.