Lena Dunham cancels Polly Pocket movie with Lily Collins due to Margot Robbie’s Barbie film

Lena Dunham has dropped out of the Polly Pocket movie project. 

The multi-hyphenate, who was spotted in the Royal Box at Wimbledon with pal   Stephen Fry on Tuesday, revealed the news during an interview with The New Yorker. 

‘I’m going to tell you something here that I haven’t told anyone,’ The Girls star and creator, 38, told the outlet.

‘I’m not going to make the Polly Pocket movie. I wrote a script, and I was working on it for three years.’

Emily in Paris star Lily Collins, 35, had been signed to portray the title character, based on the popular 1980s toy, when the project was announced in 2021.

Dunham explained it was fellow writer and director Greta Gerwig’s success with the blockbuster Barbie that fueled her decision to step away. 

Lena Dunham, 38, has dropped out of the Polly Pocket movie project three years after signing on for the project. ‘I wrote a script, and I was working on it for three years,’ she told The New Yorker (pictured in Berlin in February)

‘I think Greta managed this incredible feat [with Barbie], which was to make this thing that was literally candy to so many different kinds of people and was perfectly and divinely Greta,’ she explained.

‘And I just — I felt like, unless I can do it that way, I’m not going to do it. I don’t think I have that in me,’ she said.

‘I feel like the next movie I make needs to feel like a movie that I absolutely have to make. 

‘No one but me could make it. And I did think other people could make Polly Pocket.’

The Golden Globe winner revealed she relied on advice about fellow female filmmakers in making the decision. 

‘I remember someone once said to me about Nancy Meyers: the thing that’s the most amazing about her is that the movie she makes or the movie she would be making with or without a studio, with or without notes — that somehow her taste manages to intersect perfectly with what the world wants. What a f**king gift that is.’ 

‘And Nora Ephron, too, who was such a mentor to me, but always said, ‘Go be weird. Don’t kowtow to anyone.”

A statement from Mattel said even though Dunham has exited the project, ‘Polly Pocket is in active development, and we look forward to sharing updates on the project soon.’

‘Lena is a remarkable writer and creator and we wish her all the best!’ 

Lily Collins, 35, was signed to take on the title character based on the popular 1980s toy

Dunham cited fellow writer and director Greta Gerwig ‘s success with the blockbuster Barbie that fueled her decision to step away from Polly Pocket  (Pictured in Cannes in May)

Greta managed this incredible feat [with Barbie], which was to make this thing that was literally candy to so many different kinds of people and was perfectly and divinely Greta,’ she explained… ‘I don’t think I have that in me’

Dunham’s upcoming series Too Much is somewhat autobiographical. She moved to the UK in 2021 where she met and married her husband, musician Luis Felber, 38 (pictured in London in September 2022)

Dunham recently completed filming on her new series, Too Much, about a young woman who moves to London from New York after a bad breakup. 

Her plans to be alone are interrupted when she meets Felix and is tempted to give love another try. 

The series is semi-autobiographical. The Treasure star moved to the UK in 2021 where she met and married her husband, musician Luis Felber, 38. 

Too Much is expected to debut on Netflix in 2025.