Barbie's Cut End Credits Scene Would Have Shown Mattel's Weirdest Toy Feature
Contains spoilers for "Barbie"
As the millions who have thus far attended "Barbie" know, the movie completely lacks a post-credit scene. But it appears that the film originally had one. An Instagram post created by actor Tom Clark on July 24 reveals several behind-the-camera shots featuring Midge (Emerald Fennell) giving birth. As she prepares to deliver, who should wander into the scene but Dame Helen Mirren, who serves as the film's narrator?
Further shots of the creative team's corkboard were posted by BorisFX in support of the Art of the Cut podcast with Steve Hullfish, "Barbie" director Greta Gerwig, and film editor Nick Houy on July 27. In the episode, they reveal the scene's position as an end-credits wink and nod. So it seems that "Barbie" did indeed have an end credits scene at one point but it was trimmed before the film was released.
Even more interesting? It appears that the moment might have made a wink-and-nod reference to the reason why Pregnant Midge — the doll Fennell is portraying — was taken off the market. Pregnant Midge became controversial because children playing with the toy could pry off Midge's midsection and give her a C-section. Children could then replace Midge's rounded tummy with a flat one, which was also magnetized. Mattel was accused of doing everything from promoting single motherhood to teen pregnancy with the doll, and the company soon took it off the market. This moment has joined a handful of hinted-at scenes that were axed from the theatrical cut of "Barbie."
News of multiple deleted Barbie scenes have surfaced
Midge's delivery isn't the only "Barbie" scene that never made it into the film's final cut. At least 10 other scenes listed on the corkboard didn't pass muster and are stacked to the right of the board, off of the official ordering of the film's shot scenes. Some of the visible labels read "Barbies can save us," "Ken toys returned," "Execs in rollerblades," "Pay Mean," "Barbie monument," and "Barbie Land creation." There's no word as to what these clipped moments contain, but they apparently were filmed at some point during production.
Appearing on IndieWire's Filmmaker Toolkit Podcast, Greta Gerwig and Nick Houy also waxed nostalgic about a scene they axed called "the fart opera." "We've always tried to get in a proper fart joke and we've never done it. We had like a fart opera in the middle. I thought it was really funny. And that was not the consensus," Gerwig admitted. "It was in the wrong place, too," Houy added. "We need to work it into a more significant narrative moment next time."
And those are just some of the biggest things that were cut out of "Barbie." Hopefully, Warner Bros. will invest in releasing these chopped scenes when the movie hits digital and Blu-ray. Until then, fans will have to keep wondering about what could have been.