Mattel says Daniel Kaluuya’s Barney project will be an ‘A24-type’ film ‘for adults’

Mattel executive Kevin McKeon has shed more light on Daniel Kaluuya’s forthcoming Barney movie.

The American toy giant is currently gearing up for the release of Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig, starring Margot Robbie as the famous doll and Ryan Gosling as her counterpart, Ken.

In a new article on Mattel Films for The New Yorker, McKeon discussed Kaluuya’s “A24-type” take on Barney the purple dinosaur from the enduring Nineties kids’ series, Barney & Friends.

“We’re leaning into the millennial angst of the property rather than fine-tuning this for kids,” he said.

“It’s really a play for adults. Not that it’s R-rated, but it’ll focus on some of the trials and tribulations of being 30-something, growing up with Barney – just the level of disenchantment within the generation.”

McKeon added that the project would be “surrealistic”, drawing comparisons with the work of esoteric filmmakers Charlie Kaufman (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and Spike Jonze (Her).

“It would be so daring of us, and really underscore that we’re here to make art,” McKeon said.

The Barney film adaptation was first announced in 2019 with Mattel Films’ Robbie Brenner saying that working with Nope star Kaluuya would allow the studio “to take a completely new approach to Barney that will surprise audiences and subvert expectations”.

“Barney was a ubiquitous figure in many of our childhoods, then he disappeared into the shadows, left misunderstood,” Kaluuya said at the time. “We’re excited to explore this compelling modern-day hero and see if his message of ‘I love you, you love me’ can stand the test of time.”

While updates on the project have been few and far between, Kaluuya told Yahoo Entertainment this year that he was focusing on finding the right script.

“The script’s gotta be good, you know what I mean? It’s in development,” Kaluuya said. “I ask for high standards on anything that I work on, and I’m producing this one, so it’s still in development.”

Gerwig’s Barbie received a blow on Monday (3 July) after Vietnamese state media reported that the film would not be released in the country due to its apparent inclusion of a controversial marking in a map of the South China Sea.

Barbie will be released in UK cinemas on 21 July.