What Happened To Lena Dunham’s Polly Pocket Movie?
As the world was tinted Barbie pink and the press tour of all press tours was in full swing, there was another shiny doll movie being birthed.
Reports of a Polly Pocket film began circulating, one that followed the story of a friendship between a life-sized human and their pocket-sized pal named Polly. While I’ll be the first to admit that I thought it was a big joke, after watching the success of Barbie I certainly wasn’t laughing. There was a bucket load of money to be made off Mattel characters, and one woman wanted in: Lena Dunham.
“Polly Pocket was responsible for countless hours of childhood escapism for me,” the Girls creator said in a statement at the time. “I’m so thrilled to bring to bear both my love of this historic property and also my deep-seated belief that young women need smart playful films that speak to them without condescension.”
Lena worked on the script, production and plan for this Polly Pocket movie immediately – even casting the (I assume) titular role. Lena tapped Lily Collins for the part, who you’ll obviously know best from Emily In Paris.
“Polly gave me a tiny world of magic and autonomy to narrate so it’s pretty poetic to be tackling these same ideas now as a director collaborating with the brilliant Lily Collins, Robbie Brenner (from Mattel Films,) Mattel and MGM,” Lena explained in a statement.
The movie was set to follow Polly Pocket’s life in the “real world” and all the challenges that come with being the size of Yakult.
“We have a lot of fun with the idea of what happens when a small person encounters a big world,” Dunham told The Hollywood Reporter.
Lily Collins in Emily in Paris. Image credit: Netflix
While the movie began coming to life back in 2021, with Lena as the director and Lily as the star and producer, production has stopped before even making it to a film set.
And if you’re thinking it has anything to do with Barbie, you’re right on the money.
In an interview about giving up on Polly Pocket, Lena praised director Greta Gerwig for her “incredible feat” with Barbie. “It was literally candy to so many different kinds of people and was perfectly and divinely Greta.” But the success of the movie made Lena rethink her position with Polly Pocket, pushing her to pull out.
“And I just — I felt like, unless I can do it that way, I’m not going to do it. I don’t think I have that in me. 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,” she said.
“I’m not going to make the Polly Pocket movie,” she confirmed with The New Yorker.
The toy company behind the doll (and therefore the owners of the rights to make a movie about her) Mattel has confirmed they still plan to make the movie – but who is going to direct it? They released a statement to The Hollywood Reporter saying the following:
“Polly Pocket is in active development, and we look forward to sharing updates on the project soon. Lena is a remarkable writer and creator and we wish her all the best!”
They are yet to confirm if Lily Collins is still involved in any way.
Tbh, I kinda admire Lena for stepping away from the project. As a chronic people pleaser, I think that having the awareness to both realise and admit that you don’t think you’re going to do the best job of something is impressive. I would have stuck at it, crushed myself creatively with comparison culture and then potentially delivered a not-perfect Polly Pocket movie – which would leave me ripped to shreds by critics. So I am chuffed that Lena trusted her gut and made the tough decision early, so that we can still get our Polly Pocket movie and not have lost Lena as a creative in Hollywood.
Win, win.
Image credit: @lenadunham Instagram (photo by @harleyweir for @marfajournal)