Margot Robbie refused to move Barbie‘s release date for Oppenheimer, thus ensuring that fans could enjoy the full Barbenheimer experience.
“One of your producers, Chuck Roven, called me, because we worked together on some other projects,” Robbie, 33, told Cillian Murphy in the Tuesday, December 5, episode of Variety‘s “Actors on Actors” series. “He was like, ‘I think you guys should move your date.'”
Robbie not only starred in Barbie but produced the film through her company, Lucky Chap Productions, which brought director/cowriter Greta Gerwig to the film. However, the Australia native didn’t want to use her power as an executive producer to appease Roven, who was a producer on her Suicide Squad films.
“I was like, ‘We’re not moving our date. If you’re scared to be up against us, then you move your date,’” she recalled. “And he’s like, ‘We’re not moving our date. I just think it’d be better for you to move.’ And I was like, ‘We’re not moving!'”
Robbie, who played the iconic doll in the movie, believes the films complemented each other, saying, “I think this is a really great pairing, actually. It’s a perfect double billing, Oppenheimer and Barbie.”
Murphy, 47, said, “That was a good instinct.”
“Clearly the world agreed,” Robbie continued. “Thank God. The fact that people were going and being like, ‘Oh, watch Oppenheimer first, then Barbie.’ I was like, ‘See? People like everything.’ People are weird.”
The Oppenheimer star added, “And they don’t like being told what to do. They will decide, and they will generate the interest themselves.” Murphy also noted that director Christopher Nolan has a superstition about always releasing movies on or near July 21.
As fans ate up Barbenheimer memes, Robbie and Murphy both publicly supported each other’s movies. Murphy even said he’d be happy to play a Ken doll if a Barbie sequel is ordered.
“Would I play a Ken in Barbie 2?” Murphy said with a laugh during a July interview with Cinefilos. “Sure, yeah! Let’s read the script, let’s have a conversation.”
Barbie, a comedy about the doll having an existential crisis, and Oppenheimer, a drama about the creation of the atomic bomb, both opened on July 21 to much success. Ultimately, Barbie was the bigger box-office draw, earning over $1.4 billion and becoming the biggest movie of the year. Oppenheimer didn’t break the billion-dollar mark, but it still pulled in an impressive $950 million worldwide.
Barbie will start streaming on Max Friday, December 15. A streaming release date hasn’t been set yet for Oppenheimer.
