There will still be a movie made about the diminutive doll Polly Pocket from Mattel Films, but after three years working on it and writing a script, Lena Dunham tells The New Yorker it won’t be her who is making it after all.
Part of her reasoning for backing out of the project, which still has Lily Collins attached as a star and co-producer, apparently was the success Greta Gerwig had in turning another Mattel toy, Barbie, into an Oscar-contending blockbuster.
“I think Greta managed this incredible feat, which was to make this thing that was literally candy to so many different kinds of people and was perfectly and divinely Greta,” the Girls alumna said, adding, “unless I can do it that way, I’m not going to do it.”
Lena admitted, “I don’t think I have that in me.”
She added, “I feel like the next movie I make needs to feel like a movie that I absolutely have to make. No one but me could make it. And I did think other people could make Polly Pocket.”
For the record, there’s apparently no ill will between Mattel and Dunham, with the former telling Entertainment Weekly, “We look forward to sharing updates on the project soon. Lena is a remarkable writer and creator and we wish her all the best!”
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