Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon to make Barbie origins film

PanARMENIAN.Net - Reese Witherspoon is set to produce a film that tells the story of Ruth Handler, the creator of Barbie.

As the Guardian reports citing the Tracking Board, the Oscar-winning actor-turned-movie-mogul has picked up the rights to Barbie and Ruth, a book by Robin Gerber, which details Handler’s journey to becoming a successful businesswoman.

After seeing her daughter play with paper dolls, Handler was inspired to create Barbie as a more practical option for the clothes she had made for them to wear, and to fill a gap in a market that was saturated with dolls made to resemble children. Her husband, who worked for Mattel, was initially unenthusiastic about the idea, but ultimately the two worked together to make one of the world’s most successful toys.

Handler also had breast cancer and co-founded a company that manufactured a realistic version of a woman’s breast, called Nearly Me.

It’s the second Barbie-themed project in the works with Sony’s live-action family film, which, it was recently announced, will be rebooted with a script from Diablo Cody.

Witherspoon’s production company, Pacific Standard – which aims to bring multi-layered female roles to the screen – has already scored two major successes with Wild and Gone Girl, both of which led to best actress nominations at this year’s Oscars.

The company has been on a spending spree of late, picking up the rights to many projects, including SJ Watson’s thriller Second Life, astronaut drama Pale Blue Dot and Wall Street comedy Opening Belle. Witherspoon is also attached to HBO series Big Little Lies, alongside Nicole Kidman, Disney’s Tink and Alexander Payne’s Downsizing, with Matt Damon.