On its way to $1 billion at the worldwide box office, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie is a smash hit success by any possible metric, becoming a true pop culture moment in just one week of release. Gerwig’s bold take on the iconic Mattel toy line is winning over audiences and critics alike, and it’s no surprise that Mattel is now doubling down on their shift into Hollywood.
A thriller based on the Magic 8 Ball toy, on that note, is already in the works.
But we’re here today to talk about Barbie, and specifically Barbie‘s surprising connection to a classic horror movie. Speaking with Variety, Barbie production designer Sarah Greenwood has revealed this week that one aspect of the film was inspired by Alfred Hitchcock.
The Barbie movie introduces a handful of different Barbie characters, one of which is “Weird Barbie,” with Kate McKinnon perfectly cast in the role. McKinnon’s Weird Barbie humorously represents the dolls that kids got a little too aggressive with, her legs gone wonky, her hair chopped up, and her face decorated with crude makeup. A couple scenes in the movie take place inside Weird Barbie’s house, which was partly inspired by the 1960 classic Psycho!
Sarah Greenwood explains to Variety, “One of my early references is that you go up the stairs, and there’s the ‘Psycho’ house, and we brought in other elements.”
When you look at the two houses side by side (above and below), you can definitely see where the Norman Bates house inspired the design of Weird Barbie’s house. Granted, Weird Barbie’s house is extremely colorful while the Bates house in Hitchcock’s black and white classic is quite the opposite, but there’s a lot of shared DNA there, particularly in the front steps.
Proof that sometimes, inspiration comes from the most unexpected of places. Interesting to note, the Barbie doll was introduced in 1959, just one year before Psycho‘s release!
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