Barbie fever is fast-spreading around the world as shoppers vote with their wallets in favour of all things pink. Video / NZ Herald / Getty
Margot Robbie is set to take home her biggest payday yet for her role as pink-clad Barbie in Greta Gerwig’s latest flick.
The Aussie actress, 32, who portrayed the famous Mattel doll and helped produce the film, reportedly made an up-front sum of about US$12 million ($20m).
However, according to Variety, that pay cheque will boost to roughly US$50 million ($84million) on the back of lucrative box-office bonuses.
The film catapulted Gerwig to being the first female director to reach the milestone, and who also co-wrote the screenplay with her partner Noah Baumbach.
Robbie, originally from the Gold Coast, was pivotal in bringing the Barbie flick to life, with her production company LuckyChap Entertainment purchasing the rights from Mattel in 2018.
Margot Robbie in a scene from Barbie.
Later on, she pitched the movie to Warner Bros and managed to bring Gerwig on board to write and direct.
Reflecting on her dedication to making the film happen, Robbie recently revealed she was “overselling” the idea in early meetings with executives.
“I think my pitch in the green-light meeting was the studios have prospered so much when they’re brave enough to pair a big idea with a visionary director,” Robbie told Collider in July.
She added: “And then I gave a series of examples like, ‘dinosaurs and [Steven] Spielberg’ — 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, OK?”
Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie are set to take home huge pay cheques from the Barbie movie. Photo / Getty Images
Robbie, who founded LuckyChap Entertainment in 2014 with husband Tom Acklerley, shot to fame in Martin Scorsese’s 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill.
Since then, Robbie has been nominated for two Academy Awards and has starred in a large array of popular movies including Suicide Squad, Bombshell, I, Tonya, Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood and Focus.
