Sharon Stone Pitched A Barbie Movie Before Margot Robbie - But It Ended Badly

In the same year that superhero cinematic universes slowly started becoming a thing of the past, the creative vision and rich themes present in Greta Gerwig's "Barbie" helped it become 2023's biggest moneymaker at the box office. As the film got its rightful recognition during the 2024 awards season, "The Flight Attendant" actor Sharon Stone reminded fans of how impossible getting such an ambitious project off the ground was not long ago.

Stone left a comment on a video of America Ferrera's acceptance speech at the Critics Choice Awards that the actor posted on Instagram about her experience pitching a movie based on the popular Mattel toy line. "I was laughed out if [sic] the studio when [I] came [with] the Barbie idea in the [']90s [with] the support of the head of Barbie," she said. "How far we've come thank you ladies for your courage and endurance."

As the record-breaking "Barbie" readily proved, there is more than an audience for bold, feminist filmmaking that is both quirky and richly heartfelt. With our world growing more socially conscious, daring creators like Gerwig will continue hitting home runs at the box office, and eventually, it'll be impossible for studios to ignore these types of stories the way that Stone's was only three decades earlier.

Sharon Stone isn't the only performer to have missed out on being plastic and fantastic. Also on this list is actor and comedian Amy Schumer, who entered negotiations to star as the titular doll in 2016 when the film was under the thumb of Sony Pictures. Her exit from the project in 2017, initially cited to be due to scheduling conflicts, was later revealed to have stemmed from creative differences. In anticipation of the Margot Robbie-starring version, Schumer told "Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen," "I can't wait to see the movie. I think it looks awesome. ... It looks like it's very feminist and cool."

In between Schumer and Robbie, "The Devil Wears Prada" and "Interstellar" star Anne Hathaway was also considered for the role but left once Sony's rights to the Mattel brand expired in 2018. Not only was she blown away by the final product, but she believes it to be superior to her version. "They hit a bullseye," she shared on the podcast "Happy Sad Confused." "The bullseye caused the entire world to reach this level of ecstasy. Now imagine that much energy, that much anticipation, that much emotion, but it's not the right version. So I actually think of it as a lucky thing."

From Stone to Schumer to Hathaway to Robbie, getting Barbie on the big screen may have been a decades-long battle, but it's safe to say the outcome was more than worth it.