Life-Size

Life-Size is a 2000 American fantasy comedy television film directed by Mark Rosman and starring Lindsay Lohan and Tyra Banks.

It has many accessories, including outfits appropriate to taxing careers such as law enforcement, medicine and outer space, and lives in Sunnyvale, "in the middle of America".

Over the next few days, Eve buys clothes at the local shopping mall, since she changed out of her red and orange mall shopping outfit, uses her police training to stop a truck that almost runs Casey over, smells and eats for the first time, tries and fails miserably to do secretarial work, sings her theme song on stage at a corporate event during a dance with Ben, and almost sets the Stuarts' kitchen on fire.

After buying the second volume of the book and saying goodbye to Ben at Casey's championship game, she goes to Sunnyvale, a specially decorated room at Marathon headquarters, and recites the incantation.

The producers offered her the role following her successful film debut in The Parent Trap (1998) as a part of a three-picture contract with The Walt Disney Company.

[1] Banks was given the role of Eve, the doll that is magically transformed into a live woman during Casey's attempt to bring her mother back to life.

Stephanie Moore came up with the idea of a doll coming to life and collaborated with the director, Mark Rosman, on the script for the film.

ABC was very interested in acquiring the project, but Disney asked for a rewrite of the original ending which saw Eve becoming a human and marrying Casey's father.

There are British Columbia flags on the license plate of Casey's father Ben, but the province text is replaced with "Evergreen State" for the movie.

[4] The film starts with a commercial for the Eve doll with production designer David Fischer deliberately going for a Jetsons-inspired 1950s retro look.

Life-Size was slated to premiere as a part of ABC's The Wonderful World of Disney on February 27, 2000, but was delayed by one week, and later released on March 5.

[citation needed] Rosman talked about the movie in various interviews in the early 2020s, revealing the original script was called Ken and Barbie before Disney bought it.

Out of concern that Mattel wouldn't sign off on lending the rights to Barbie, the duo avoided mentioning the doll in subsequent drafts of the script.

[3] He added, "We ended up having the chance to do some rehearsal with [Tyra] in the weeks before we were shooting, which was very rare for TV movies on those schedules, but she was willing to do it, and then I got the two of them together and they were just sort of a magical pair!

He stated "I wanted it to be something where you could really stand up and cheer," and continued about filming the scene which he called an "unrehearsed accident" that happened when they were about to wrap and had just finished shooting what was intended to be the last scene:[3][6] What was really fun about it was the cast completely got into that song while we were shooting, and we had like 15 minutes left in our day before we had to call it quits, and I said 'hey, everybody let's do the song,' and Lindsay was like 'yeah!

[9][10][11][12][13] Mark Rosman named Life-Size as the film he directed that gets the most fan reaction and expressed it was his most memorable filming experience as well: "Lindsay [Lohan] was just absolutely delightful, she was super excited to do the movie and to be working with Tyra Banks, and then Tyra, this was her maybe second, if not first, real role as an actress, certainly her first where she really carries the movie [...] It was just really fun!"

I get young women in their early 20s coming up to me, when they've heard that I directed that movie, and they actually start singing to me the theme song [for the toy doll], it's hysterical.

"[17] Writing for the HuffPost, Ruth Etiesit Samuel similarly expressed that Life-Size "made the first attempt at merging a plastic world with the real one, using nostalgic whimsy as a vehicle for self-discovery and introspection," and tackled the "criticism that Barbie has weathered for years over Mattel's depiction of girlhood head-on," describing it as the "personification of many young girls' wildest dreams" from the clothing to the activities depicted in the film.

[10] The casting of Banks was examined and seen as important, as "it felt significant seeing a Black doll, albeit fictional, lauded as a cultural mainstay, depicted by a supermodel and broadcast by a household network such as ABC.

Both [of these films] center girlhood, role models, and humanity in a way that is truly moving, while simultaneously poking fun at capitalism and its excesses."

"[8] Alexandre Marain of Vogue France stated the movie "does not seem to have aged one bit over the years" thanks to "Banks, perfect in the role of the animated doll", "a plethora of hilarious comedic lines", and "a series of well-crafted emotional moments," detailing it as "an insightful critique of Barbie, particularly the issues surrounding her being 'perfect' and 'gifted', and raises deep questions about what it means to be human, and about a woman's place.

"[20] Rosman was interviewed following the release of the Barbie movie and the comparisons that gave Life-Size a "second life on social media": "I'm getting a kick out of it.

"[3][21] A screening of the film was presented by Gerber/Hart at the Leather Archives & Museum as part of a Barbie exhibit opening in Chicago in August 2023.