Lena Dunham has acknowledged that her canned Polly Pocket movie would have been "unnecessarily compared" to Barbie upon release.
The Girls creator and star was attached to write and direct a movie based on the popular Mattel toy, with Lily Collins set to star, back in 2021. However, Dunham revealed last year that she had walked away from the project after working on the script for three years.
Polly Pocket was just one of the film projects the toymaker had in development as a follow-up to Greta Gerwig's Barbie, which became a cultural phenomenon and the highest-grossing movie of 2023.
During an appearance on the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast, Dunham explained that she didn't think she was "the best person" for the job and that she didn't want her movie to be unfairly judged against her friend's smash hit.
"What Greta did with Barbie, managing to take this piece of IP (intellectual property) and make it so personal and specific, it's really really hard, and I just didn't think I was going to be the best person for the job. I was like, I'm not going to do this as well as the other (person)," she shared.
"Because Greta did it so well, it's always going to be unnecessarily compared (to Barbie), and she's my friend and I love her and we've known each other for 20 years, like, who needs that (comparison)? That movie just changed the world and let this be something different, and I'm going to pursue something different."
The actress noted that while she still "truly" loves Polly Pocket toys, she knew it was time "to say no".
It is unclear if the Polly Pocket movie is still in development alongside Mattel Films' other upcoming projects, such as Barney and Hot Wheels.
Dunham is currently directing the movie Good Sex, which she also wrote. The romantic comedy, which is in production in New York, stars Natalie Portman, Meg Ryan and Mark Ruffalo.
