Sophia Michaels
After the success of July’s “Barbie” movie, Mattel has its eyes on adapting some of its other beloved toys into films. There’s the “Barney” movie starring Daniel Kaluuya, and now we have more details on a “Polly Pocket” film starring Lily Collins and written and directed by Lena Dunham.
Mattel producer Robbie Brenner, who’s in charge of the company’s film plan, confirmed to Variety in an article published July 26 that there is a “Polly Pocket” script, and it’s “great.”
“It’s been an amazing collaboration,” Brenner said. “Lena is so collaborative and rolls up her sleeves and really likes to roll around in notes and listen. She’s incredible. Lily is so smart and so specific and so productorial. It’s just been an incredible collaboration, so we are thrilled about it. Hopefully, we’ll be making that at some point in the future.” Of course, even if the project is almost ready to go, it’s delayed now by the ongoing writers and actors strikes.
As for Polly Pocket herself, the toy was designed in 1983 by Chris Wiggs for his daughter Kate. Polly’s first house was built in a makeup powder compact. She was originally released through Bluebird Toys until Mattel purchased the brand in 1998. The company redesigned the doll in 1998, and the company created a larger version of Polly who could wear different outfits. In 2012, Polly Pocket toys were discontinued, but were relaunched in 2018 and now more closely resemble the original small dolls and playsets.
The “Polly Pocket” film was first announced in 2021. At the time, Variety reported that movie would be about a friendship between a young girl and a pocket-sized woman.
“Polly Pocket was responsible for countless hours of childhood escapism for me – Polly gave me a tiny world of magic and autonomy to narrate, so it’s pretty poetic to be tackling these same ideas now as a director collaborating with the brilliant Lily Collins, Robbie Brenner, Mattel and MGM,” Dunham said in a statement at the time, per Variety. “I’m so thrilled to bring to bear both my love of this historic property and also my deep-seated belief that young women need smart playful films that speak to them without condescension.”
