Alexandra Shipp started crying when she stepped onto the set of the Barbie movie for the first time.

In the Lady Bird director’s upcoming movie, Margot Robbie plays the iconic Mattel doll alongside different variations of Barbie played by the likes of Shipp, Emma Mackey, Dua Lipa, Hari Nef, and Nicola Coughlan.

During an interview with Out Magazine, the tick, tick… BOOM! actress admitted she was overcome with emotion when she stepped into Barbieland for the first time.

“We got to the set, and we walked in, and we walked on the grass, and we started following that little yellow brick road. And I just started crying,” she recalled. “It’s the femmest thing I’ve ever done… I was like, ‘Look at these two- to four-storey Barbie Dreamhouses! It’s a cul-de-sac. You’ve got everything and everyone!’ And it was so massive and up to scale that the little girl in me started just crying.”

In a separate interview with Deadline, Shipp, who plays Writer Barbie in the movie, shared that she felt nervous joining such as a star-studded cast but director Greta Gerwig made her feel welcome.

“It was really exciting (to work with her). I was extremely nervous coming onto this set and working with incredible actors but Greta makes a safe set,” she praised. “She allows you to be honest and articulate and have integrity in specific choices and she helps to elevate that and move that around and mould that. To work with a director like that is just a dream come true.”

Barbie will be released in cinemas on 21 July.

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