The Barbie movie doesn’t come out until July 21, but the promotion has been happening for months and it is outstanding. I’m being completely serious – the marketing departments from Mattel and Warner Bros are going to win awards for what they’re doing to market and promote the film. Margot Robbie is going to get tons of credit too, since she put the film together and produced it through her company, LuckyChap. People Magazine has done a special Barbie issue, with a cover story full of Barbie gossip. As in, gossip about what it was like to make the movie. They had a lot of fun!!

Barbie sleepovers: Simu Liu says Margot Robbie hosted a sleepover for her fellow Barbie actresses. “Margot was so great. She had a sleepover with the Barbies before photography started, and the Kens were allowed to either visit briefly or to phone in and say hi,” he says. “So we made sure to show our support but not be overbearing with our presence. And all the Barbies and Kens got in a group chat.”

Michael Cera’s Allan kept separate from the Barbies & Kens: That group chat didn’t include Michael Cera though, but he was fine with the omission. “I don’t have an iPhone myself. … I have a flip phone,” says Cera, 35. “But I still think I wouldn’t belong on [the group chat] anyway, because [my character] Allan is sort of in his own little world. Greta’s gift for me when I arrived was a picture disc of NSYNC’s No Strings Attached, which felt like somehow a real guiding light in the backstory of this character.”

Issa Rae missed the sleepover: “I got there late. I was so sad [to miss the sleepover],” says Rae, 38. “But there were so many bonding activities. Simu’s birthday happened there. And Margot and Tom [Ackerley, Robbie’s husband and co-producer] would have movie nights.”

Ryan Gosling on Margot’s once-a-week pink dress code on set: “Margot had this pink day once a week, where everyone had to wear something pink. And if you didn’t, you were fined,” says Gosling, 42. “She would go around collecting the fines, and she would donate it to a charity. What was really special was just how excited the male crew members were. At the end of the film, they all got together and, with their own money, made pink crew shirts with rainbow fringe. It was this opportunity for them to show their respect and admiration for what Margot and [director] Greta [Gerwig] were creating. It was almost like that scene at the end of Dead Poets Society, where they all get on their desk and say, ‘O captain! My captain!’ ”

Robbie on Ryan Gosling: “Ryan is the most comedically gifted actor I have ever worked with. He really is,” says Robbie of Gosling. “He’s known for his dramatic acting, and rightly so. But he is unbelievably gifted with comedy, and I ruined most of his takes because I was laughing through all of it.”

[From People]

I’m exhausted just thinking about how much Margot did to keep everyone going, to keep the vibe happy and exciting, to keep everyone motivated. Granted, we haven’t heard of any disputes on-set or anything, so maybe it wasn’t that difficult for her, but still – it’s really rare to see actors so committed to telling everyone that the whole production experience was amazing and that everyone loves each other. It must have been a magical experience for all of them.

Photos from the Mexico City photocall, where Margot recreated Totally Hair Barbie, from the 1990s. She’s either wearing a wig or those are some crazy extensions. It’s really cute how she’s creating all of these Barbie looks for the promo.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, cover courtesy of People.