‘Barbie’ Production Prompted International Shortage of Pink Paint for Greta Gerwig’s Film

Greta Gerwig’s Barbie production used so much pink paint to bring the fantasy world to life that it actually led to a shortage of the color.

In a recent interview with Architectural Digest, published online Tuesday, the director opened up about how Barbie Land took form and who helped pull off the iconic pink set design in the highly-anticipated movie.

“Maintaining the ‘kid-ness’ was paramount,” she said of the film, starring Margot Robbie as Mattel’s iconic fashion doll and Ryan Gosling as Ken. “I wanted the pinks to be very bright, and everything to be almost too much.”

Gerwig also noted that it was important to not “forget what made me love Barbie when I was a little girl.” So that’s when she decided to put production designer Sarah Greenwood and set decorator Katie Spencer up for the challenge.

Greenwood told the magazine that to help “make Barbie real through this unreal world,” they took inspiration from Palm Springs’ midcentury modernism.

The production designer previously told IndieWire that “pink became the film’s thesis,” and that when it came to finding the perfect pink, “it was epic dealing with the painters, mixing the right colors.”

But due to construction, Greenwood told AD that there ended up being an international shortage of the fluorescent shade of Rosco paint. She added, “The world … ran out of pink.” 

Overall, Gerwig said her goal was “to capture what was so ridiculously fun about the Dreamhouses” in the film, which is set to hit theaters on July 21.