What does it take to bring Barbie Land to life? For starters, a lot of pink paint. So much that it drained one company’s worldwide supply. But also, hand-painted backdrops, waterless pools, and custom convertibles. To hear more about how they built the already-iconic world within the “Barbie” movie, we spoke to collaborators Sarah Greenwood (the production designer) and Katie Spencer (the set decorator). 

Q: How familiar were you with Barbie when you first started working on the film?

Spencer: Neither of us had ever owned a Barbie, let alone a Dreamhouse — so we came to it with a very open mind ... We bought our first Dreamhouse [after being hired], which was a revelation. 

Greenwood: We put it together in the office, and we played with it. We weren’t [trying to] recreate the Dreamhouse in any way, but we were very much influenced by it.

Q: What was the most important aspect of the set to get right? 

Greenwood: The toy dynamic and scale ... When we put Barbie into the Dreamhouse, [we realized] if you put her hand up, she can touch the ceiling — the scale is slightly off-kilter. We worked out that she is roughly 23% bigger than the space that she’s in. So [on set] the ceilings are lower and everything is smaller ... [Even] the car we made was 23% smaller than human size. The fact that Margot, Ryan, and everybody else was bigger than the scene’s space gave it a very toyetic quality. 

Q: A lot of your work has been on period pieces, like “Beauty and the Beast” and “Darkest Hour.” Was working on “Barbie” very different?

Greenwood: One of the first things [director] Greta [Gerwig] said to me was that she understands we build worlds. Whatever film you’re doing, you’re making a whole world around the characters and story … so in a way it’s the same approach.

Spencer: It is different, though. When we did “Anna Karenina,” there was a novel to fall back on as a narrative. But there is no narrative with Barbie. It was purely Greta’s script. 

Greenwood: It [should] feel like you’re inside a toy [land]. There’s no aging, everything is perfect, and it was very brightly lit … Also, you’re creating a world that’s contained, meaning there’s no fire, electricity, wind, or rain, so you’re actually taking away a lot of the tricks used to give atmosphere.

Q: Was that the most challenging part of creating the set?

Greenwood: There are no walls. When you’re looking through one house, you’re … seeing Barbie Land and beyond.

Spencer: There literally was nowhere to hide. Every single thing was considered, everything. 

Q: What’s something from Barbie Land that you wish you had in your own home? 

Greenwood: The one thing we did [replicate] is what we call “Skipper’s Tree House.” It’s actually [sold as] the Chelsea Tree House, but we recreated it — literally and perfectly. Like the toy. We put a little picket fence around it, and there’s a plaque on the front that says, “This is a historic monument. Made by Mattel in 1985.” I just think that’s so humorous. I love that.

Spencer: There’s a snow globe that we made, and inside it is Weird Barbie’s house. It’s just lovely.

Greenwood: And, of course, the color pink. I painted my bedroom pink — not bright pink, but a subtle shade of pink. I like pink now. I didn’t beforehand.