Margot Robbie's Barbie movie caused an international shortage of pink paint
The Barbie movie is pretty in pink - but it came with a cost
A lot of people are excited to see Margot Robbie star in the title role of the upcoming Barbie movie.
The Australian actor will be front and centre as the iconic doll, but her very pink house will likely be drawing just as many eyeballs.
Barbie's Dreamhouse is everything you'd imagine it to be - pink, pink... and more pink.
In fact, Barbie's crib was so heavy on the colour that it caused an international shortage of pink paint.
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When the set for Barbie Land was constructed at Warner Bros. Studio Leavesden, Rosco paint ran seriously low on the particular shade of pink that adorns Barbie's walls.
So much so, that production designer Sarah Greenwood said: "The world ran out of pink."
Fortunately, they managed to pull through and keep Barbie's world looking pretty in pink, and nobody was left seeing red.
Okay, enough colourful word play.
Talking about the construction of Barbie Land to Architectural Digest, director Greta Gerwig said: "There are no walls and no doors.
"Dreamhouses assume that you never have anything you wish was private - there is no place to hide.
To bring the world of the Mattel toy to life, set designers took inspiration from Palm Springs mid-century modernism.
Greenwood and her colleague Katie Spencer, who had previously worked on Pride & Prejudice, had never owned a Barbie house before so they bought one off Amazon for inspiration.
Spencer recalled: "The scale was quite strange," whilst Gerwig noted: "The ceiling is actually quite close to one’s head, and it only takes a few paces to cross the room.
"It has the odd effect of making the actors seem big in the space but small overall."
Barbie's house also comes with a slide that coils from the third floor down to a pool.
Explaining the design, Gerwig said: "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?"
In Barbie's bedroom, a clamshell headboard is covered in velvet with a sequined duvet, whilst her wardrobe contains coordinated outfits.
It's a far cry from the original Dreamhouse released in 1962, which was a cardboard fold-out.
Speaking of Barbie's set up, Greenwood said: "It’s very definitely a house for a single woman," whilst Spencer noted: "She is the ultimate feminist icon."
Let's just hope that any sequels don't cause any further paint shortages.
Barbie is out in cinemas on July 21.
Topics: Barbie, Film and TV, Margot Robbie
Ben Thompson