We’ve Been Saved From The Lena Dunham Polly Pocket Movie
Since last summer’s success, achieved by Warner Bros. and Greta Gerwig in the Barbie movie, other plastic figures and toys have been trying to break into the film industry. One title that had audiences unsure of how to feel was a movie about the tiny toys known as Polly Pockets. But now, its writer and director, Girls creator and star Lena Dunham, has confirmed that she’s no longer moving forward with the project.
Lena Dunham Walks Away
In a recent statement, Lena Dunham revealed that, after penning a script and “working on it for three years,” she would no longer be involved with the Polly Pocket movie. When it comes down to it, Dunham says that she wasn’t given the creative control that she felt was necessary to do the production the way that she wanted to. Citing her heroes Nancy Meyers and Nora Ephron, Lena Dunham says that the latter once gave her the advice to “Go be weird. Don’t kowtow to anyone,” something she’s carried through her career.
Pointing to the success that Greta Gerwig had with the live-action Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling-led Barbie film, Lena Dunham praised the director’s ability to create something that she described as “literally candy to so many different kinds of people and was perfectly and divinely Greta.”
Mattel Wants More Movies
In the end, things seemingly just haven’t seemed to work out between Dunham and Mattel with the Polly Pocket movie, as it sounds like the toy’s home base wasn’t giving her the same type of freedom that the Little Women and Lady Bird helmer had for Barbie. “I’m not going to do it,” Dunham said, adding, “I don’t think I have that in me.”
Still, Dunham says that she’s sure other people are more than capable of following Mattel’s vision and completing a Polly Pocket film should they want to go down a different road. But we’d wager that the studio isn’t exactly in a rush, as they have at least 14 projects now in development.
From a movie about Hot Wheels to an on-screen story that follows the American Girl dolls and even a horror flick centered around the Magic 8 Ball, they’ve got it all. And then, of course, there are rumors of a Barbie sequel that would return audiences to the pinkified world first introduced last summer.
A Star Was Attached
Mattel first announced that a Polly Pocket movie was moving towards development three years ago in 2021, with Emily in Paris and MaXXXine star Lily Collins attached in the leading role. The actress was also signed on as a producer for the film, which would have been a collaboration between Mattel and MGM. Lena Dunham was revealed to be the director when the film’s announcement hit the headlines, meaning that she’s been with it from the very start.
The Script Was Finished
The Polly Pocket movie received a promising (if you were into it) and huge update last year when the news dropped that the production’s script had been finished. The announcement came at the height of the historic double writers’ and actors’ strikes that raged on throughout the summer of 2023, with many folks wondering exactly what the next steps would be. Clearly, with Dunham sharing that she’s the film, the brakes were pumped, and the studios will start from square one.
The Best Outcome For Everyone Involved
From the start, the Polly Pocket movie raised eyebrows with the production team’s choice to bring Lena Dunham on as its writer and director. The Girls star and creator has been a divisive figure in Hollywood for well over a decade and hasn’t had the best reviews on her more recent productions. Maybe, in time, Mattel will find that it was better for their publicity team to move forward with someone else anyway.
Source: The New Yorker
