The Barbie movie used an excessive amount of pink paint, causing an international shortage
In the pursuit of making Barbie’s all-pink universe, the Greta Gerwig movie ended up causing an international shortage of pink paint.
In an interview with Architectural Digest, Gerwig shared that during the creation of Barbie Land at Warner Bros. Studios Levesden in England, Sarah Greenwood, production designer, shared that the Rosco paint they used for the set ran on low stock on a particular bright pink shade.
"The world ran out of pink," she said.
While creating the Barbie universe, the set designers heavily referenced midcentury modern designs based in Palm Springs as well as the Barbie Dreamhouses.
As per Gerwig, it was clinical to maintain the child like fantasy that Barbie promised its fans and thus excessive use of bright, loud colours like pink were synonymous to the aim.
"Maintaining the 'kid-ness' was paramount. I wanted the pinks to be very bright, and everything to be almost too much. [I didn’t want to] forget what made me love Barbie when I was a little girl."
"I wanted to capture what was so ridiculously fun about the Dreamhouses,
"Why walk down stairs when you can slide into your pool? Why trudge up stairs when you take an elevator that matches your dress?"