Barbie character returns in scene CUT from final film

A scene cut from 'Barbie' would have seen Midge giving birth.

The character was introduced by Mattel in 1963 as their flagship doll's best friend and a now-discontinued pregnant version of the doll was played by Emerald Fennell in Greta Gerwig's summer comedy based on the toy franchise.

Leaked photos from behind the scenes of the film seen on a corkboard in an 'Art of the Cut' interview with editor Nick Houy have now revealed that there were plans for Midge to give birth in a post-credits joke for the film, alongside Dame Helen Mirren - who appears as the Narrator - as a midwife.

Other scenes cut from the fantasy comedy - which sees Barbie discover what it means to be human after leaving Barbie Land - included a "fart opera" but the joke was cut due to a poor reception at a test screening, according to Greta.

She told IndieWire: We’ve always tried to get in a proper fart joke and we’ve never done it. We had like a fart opera in the middle [of 'Barbie']. I thought it was really funny. And that was not the consensus."

Since its release in the middle of July, 'Barbie' - which stars Margot Robbie as the titular doll alongside # Ryan Gosling as her boyfriend Ken, and features appearances from other A-Listers such as Dua Lipa, Nicola Coughlan, and Will Ferrell - has grossed more than $774 million at the box office and it is thought that it will eventually surpass the $1 billion mark.

Prior to its release, Greta told Collider: "I think my pitch in the green-light meeting was the studios have prospered so much when they’re brave enough to pair a big idea with a visionary director. And then I gave a series of examples like, ‘dinosaurs and [Steven] Spielberg’ — pretty much naming anything that’s been incredible and made a ton of money for the studios over the years.

"And I was like, ‘And now you’ve got Barbie and Greta Gerwig.’ And I think I told them that it’d make a billion dollars, which maybe I was overselling, but we had a movie to make, okay?."