Margot Robbie confesses she hyped 'Barbie' as a billion-dollar project

LOS ANGELES: Actress and producer Margot Robbie admitted to a touch of hype on the upcoming film 'Barbie'.

"I think my pitch in the green-light meeting was that the studios have prospered so much when they're brave enough to pair a big idea with a visionary director," she said of using Oscar- nominee Greta Gerwig, reports Deadline.

"And then I gave a series of examples like, 'dinosaurs and (Steven) Spielberg,' that and that, that and that — pretty much naming anything that’s been incredible and made a ton of money for the studios over the years. And I was like, ‘And now you’ve got Barbie and Greta Gerwig.'"

"And I think I told them that it'd make a billion dollars, which maybe I was overselling, but we had a movie to make, okay?!" she added.

"And then I gave a series of examples like, 'dinosaurs and (Steven) Spielberg', that and that, that and that — pretty much naming anything that's been incredible and made a ton of money for the studios over the years."

"And I was like, 'And now you've got Barbie and Greta Gerwig.' And I think I told them that it'd make a billion dollars, which maybe I was overselling, but we had a movie to make, okay?!"

Robbie wasn't demandng to star in the vehicle.

"I didn't want whoever our director was going to be – Greta being the first choice, but if she had said no – I didn't want our director to feel pressured to put me in the role," Robbie said.

"So I was just really upfront about like, 'I won't be offended in the slightest. We could go to anyone. Whatever story you want to tell and whoever you want that to be, I support that. I’ve got skin in the game as a producer, I don't have skin in the game as an actor, so be free with that choice.'"

"And she was like, 'Shut up, I want to write this for you.' And I was like, 'You might feel pressured to say that, but …' and we did that dance for a while. And then eventually I just accepted that she did want me to play the role, and then she wrote it.

"She wrote me in and she wrote Ryan (Gosling) in, and it was our names printed in the script from the get-go: 'Barbie – Margot, Ken – Ryan Gosling.'"