Simu Liu, who starred in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, will play with Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie film.
Simu Liu, who was previously featured in Shang-Chi, joins Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling in the cast of the Barbie film. Greta Gerwig, the Oscar-nominated director of Ladybird, is directing Barbie and co-writing the script with Noah Baumbach, the writer of The Squid and the Whale.
Given the award-winning talents of Gerwig and Baumbach, it’s a good bet that this Barbie film won’t be a straight-up toy tie-in. Indeed, the presence of Robbie and Gosling at the helm of the cast confirms that Barbie the movie will have a lot more on its mind than simply gratifying the army of fans of the renowned doll. And, most recently, the film’s cast was bolstered by the addition of America Ferrera in an unnamed part.
In truth, there is still a lot of mystery about Barbie and her past (no surprise given the amount of secrecy that veils all major projects these days). However, THR says that Liu has joined the cast in yet another mystery role, revealing even more pieces of information about the picture.
What Simu Liu Shared about the Barbie?
After directing the MCU smash Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Liu is a bonafide international superstar. Liu’s Shang-Chi will almost certainly return to the MCU at some point in the future, but in the meanwhile, he’s using his newfound celebrity to sign on for other exciting projects.
In addition to Barbie, Liu has cast Arthur the King in a family-friendly film starring Mark Wahlberg as an adventure racer and his dog. In addition, Liu will appear in the romantic film One True Loves.
Barbie has, of course, been in the works for a long time – so long, in fact, that Cannon Films was rumored to be interested in developing a live-action Barbie as early as 1986. Later, Amy Schumer was cast as Barbie in a reimagining of the doll’s origin in which the “perfect” toy was exiled to the real world as a normal woman.
The lead role was then taken by Anne Hathaway, who later dropped out. In early 2019, Robbie was cast as the lead, and Gosling was cast as Barbie’s boyfriend Ken in October 2021.
It’s unclear what spin the Gerwig-Baumbach combo will put on Barbie (though given their writing credits, the film is likely to be set in New York). Clearly, the stage is set for a film that sends out a lot of positive messages while also offering a unique take on the renowned lead character than one might expect from a studio picture focused solely on marketing tie-ins.
A key part of the firm’s plan is to recruit as strong a cast as possible, and Liu and Ferrera have now joined Robbie and Gosling in that regard. It’ll be interesting to see who else joins the cast as Barbie prepares to star in front of the camera, with a release date scheduled for early 2023.
