As Ayo Edebiri takes on a classic children’s TV character, it makes sense that she would turn to a childhood friend.
The Golden Globe winner recently revealed that she developed her pitch for the upcoming Daniel Kaluuya-produced Barney film, from A24 and Mattel Films, during a trip with her “oldest friend,” who was terminally ill at the time and has since died.
“My best friend, who’s now passed away, was sick and I had to go film. I was like, we have to push back,” she recalled to The Wall Street Journal. “I have to be here because I’m pretty sure she’s going to die. I was like, if you have to sue me then you have to sue me, but we have to push. I have to be here when she dies or I’m going to really regret it. And I pushed. I’m really glad I did because I got to spend a lot of time with her.”
Edebiri met the friend in third grade. “We met in the Picture Day line. That’s my friend for life,” she said, explaining that the pal was the one who suggested the trip after noticing the actress, writer and director was tired.
“She was like, ‘When can you take a break?’ And then I did. I went on a trip to Asia for a month,” she said. “I felt like that girl who takes a gap year. That’s where I ended up coming up with the idea for Barney that I ended up pitching to Daniel.”
Edebiri added, “I was just thinking of, what are the movies that I want to make? What are the things that I want to do? What are the things that make me excited? So I just had this idea, and then we started building it out together. And then it becomes what it’s going to be, which I don’t want to say too much about.”
The Bear star was tapped to write the film in February, and she’s also in talks to star in the adaptation of the PBS kids show Barney & Friends, which ran for 14 seasons from 1992 to 2010. The character of the big purple dinosaur was previously originated in the 1988 direct-to-video series Barney & the Backyard Gang.
Mattel exec Kevin McKeon has said the live-action Barney film will be adult-oriented and “surrealistic,” in the vein of films by Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze.
“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 thirtysomething, growing up with Barney—just the level of disenchantment within the generation.”
Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz has added that the film is “taking a fresh approach” to the character that will be “fun, entertaining and culturally oriented,” emphasizing it “will not be an odd movie.”
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