Emily in Paris Star Steps Into Margot Robbie’s Shoes in Reese Witherspoon’s New Film
Emily in Paris star Lily Collins will lead Mattel Studios Polly Pocket movie, with Amazon MGM Studios and Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine driving the project forward, Deadline reports, as Hollywood doubles down on the post-Barbie toy-to-screen boom.
Add another toy to the Mattel-to-movie pipeline: Lily Collins is set to star in a Polly Pocket film that is very much still happening, even after a big creative shuffle. Deadline says the project is moving forward with Amazon MGM Studios and Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine alongside Mattel Studios. Yes, we are still riding the post-Barbie wave.
What exactly is Polly Pocket again?
If you missed the late-80s craze: Polly Pocket started as a teeny-tiny doll line built around palm-sized compacts. Open the case, and you get a whole miniature playset. The brand has already spawned animated series and other adaptations, but this is the live-action leap.
Where the movie stands now
- Lily Collins has been attached since 2021 and will also produce through her company, Case Study Films.
- The film is being developed with Amazon MGM Studios and Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine, in partnership with Mattel Studios.
- Writers Jordan Weiss and Dan Brier are currently scripting, per Deadline.
- Lena Dunham was originally set to write and direct; she exited after spending years on a draft.
- No plot, cast beyond Collins, or release timeline has been announced yet.
Collins has been vocal about how personal this one is for her. Back when the project first surfaced in 2021, she told Variety she grew up obsessed with Polly Pocket and called making the movie a dream come true. That energy tracks: she is not just starring, she is backing it as a producer.
The Lena Dunham of it all
Inside baseball, but notable: Dunham was initially the face of the adaptation and talked about how much the toy meant to her in 2021. Then, in 2024, she explained why she walked away after three years of work.
"I'm not going to make the Polly Pocket movie. I wrote a script, and I was working on it for three years. I felt like, unless I can do it that way, I'm not going to do it."
Translation: her version was specific, and if the movie could not be made that way, she would rather not make it at all. The baton has since passed to Weiss and Brier, and the project keeps rolling.
Meanwhile, Lily Collins is busy
Collins is still best known as Emily Cooper on Netflix's romantic-comedy hit Emily in Paris (the show is streaming now, if you are catching up). She is also set to star in the comedy Close Personal Friends, and she has been making fashion headlines during New York Fashion Week 2025.
Bottom line: Polly Pocket is alive at Amazon MGM Studios with Mattel Studios and Hello Sunshine, Collins remains the face and one of the producers, new writers are on deck, and the specifics are under wraps. It is a surprising little project with a lot of moving pieces — and if Barbie taught Hollywood anything, it is that tiny toys can make very big movies.