Too much pink in ‘Barbie’ led to global shortage of pink paint, says film designer

Creating the perfect backdrop for the upcoming “Barbie” movie required so much pink paint that it led to a global shortage, according to its production designer, Sarah Greenwood.

“The world has run out of pink,” she said in a recent interview with Architectural Digest.

Greenwood, who has been nominated for six Oscars, including art direction for “Pride and Prejudice” and “Amendment,” said building the set involved copious amounts of Rosco fluorescent pink paint.

The live-action film, which hits theaters July 21, stars Margot Robbie in the titular role and a blond Ryan Gosling as her plastic boyfriend, Ken. Greta Gerwig, who directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Noah Baumbach, told the magazine that color is very important to the film.

“Keeping the ‘child’ was critical,” she said. “I wanted the pinks to be very bright and everything to be almost too much.”

This was part of what Gerwig described as “literally creating the alternate universe of Barbie Land”. Although Gerwig said he loved Barbie as a child, neither Greenwood nor set decorator Katie Spencer ever owned one of Mattel’s iconic dolls.

So the London-based team ordered a Barbie “Dream House” online to spark her imagination. They drew further inspiration from mid-century Palm Springs modernism.

“Everything back then was perfect,” Greenwood said, adding that she strove “to make Barbie real through this unreal world.”

By email to CNN Lauren Proud, vice president of marketing and digital experience at ink company Rosco, confirmed that the production used too much of the color, but added that there were other factors involved in the lack of the pink ink.

“The sets were being developed during a time when we were still experiencing global supply chain issues, and ink supplies were particularly affected,” she said. “We delivered everything we could, they got everything. We can’t wait to see how it looks in the movie!”