Celebrating the World of Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer with Barbie

Celebrating the World of Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer with Barbie

In person: Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer

In person: Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer

An instant box office smash upon its release in the summer of 2023, filmmaker Greta Gerwig’s Barbie proved to be an era-defining cultural phenomenon beloved by critics and audiences of all ages. Among the film’s eight nominations at the 96th Oscars was a nod to the creative team of production designer Sarah Greenwood and set decorator Katie Spencer. Barbie marked the seventh Oscar nomination for this longtime collaborative duo, following their achievements for Pride & Prejudice (2005), Atonement (2007), Sherlock Holmes (2009), Anna Karenina (2012), Beauty and the Beast (2017), and Darkest Hour (2017).

Though neither Greenwood nor Spencer had ever owned one of Mattel’s dolls, the pair set about envisioning a Barbieland at once brand-new and instantly recognizable. Drawing inspiration from seventy years of Barbie Dreamhouses, 1980s interior design, and Palm Springs aesthetics, the team dove into conversations about the essence of pink and the mechanics of breathing life into a plastic world in creative and groundbreaking ways.

On the opening day of the museum’s exhibition Barbie to Anna Karenina: The Cinematic Worlds of Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer, this program will explore how Greenwood and Spencer develop the overall look and visual concept of a movie and how they collaborate to create unique environments and settings that convey time, place, and character. The evening will culminate in a screening of Gerwig’s Oscar-nominated film.

Barbie to Anna Karenina: The Cinematic Worlds of Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer is curated by Michelle Puetz, exhibitions curator, with Alexandra James Salichs and Simran Bhalla, curatorial assistants, Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. The exhibition runs from May 23, 2025 to October 25, 2026.

Programmed and note by K.J. Relth-Miller.

DIRECTED BY: Greta Gerwig. WRITTEN BY: Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach. WITH: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon. 2023. 114 min. USA. Color. English. Rated PG-13. DCP.

Barbie to Anna Karenina: The Cinematic Worlds of Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer is generously supported by Yeardley Smith. Additional support provided by Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Barbara Timmer, and Tom Duffield. Special thanks to Mattel for their collaboration and support for this exhibition.
Academy Museum film programming generously funded by the Richard Roth Foundation. 

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