If you’re like me and you grew up in the ’90s, you were probably into the Barney and Friends show. I mean, how could you not be? He’s a big and purple anthropomorphic Tyrannosaurus Rex that does nothing but sings and dances. The happy dinosaur made kids happy and got everyone to sing together. Such a joyful character would always be sticking around to make children happy. But can you really imagine a darker take on the happy dinosaur? In every movie or show we see the dinosaur always smiling and always being so happy. What if Barney just decided to turn evil and go on a killing spree? I mean, he is still a dinosaur, so it would only be in his nature if he ate people, right? Boy, I’m already starting to tear up a bit inside.
But for real, just take a minute and imagine if Barney went bad. It sounds inconceivable, but guess what? Something like that is apparently happening. Wait, let’s put on the brakes for a minute and think about this. How in the world can anyone possibly turn such a beloved childhood character into something far less than what he is? Well, just ask actor Daniel Kaluuya, because according to him, a movie like that is still in development. And what’s even more interesting is that it will be a live-action movie. And how does he describe it? In just one word, and it’s probably not what you’re expecting, the one word is “heartbreaking.”
Well, talk about unexpected. This supposed live-action Barney movie was in the works for a few years and it’s been a while since we’ve heard progress on it. But according to Kaluuya himself, the movie is still moving forward and the script is being reworked. During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the actor mentioned the movie when asked about current projects being worked on with his production company 59%. He didn’t give too many details on the progress of the movie itself, but he did go into rather curious detail about it.
Describing his motivation on pursuing this project, Kaluuya broke it down to him simply loving kids’ films. He went on and explained that he doesn’t want to restrict himself to the “limitations of what he’s perceived as.” And by that, he means he’s perceived to be more on the serious side. But hold on, how can you get serious with a character like Barney? Well, it turns out Daniel Kaluuya has an idea in mind. From an interview with EW back in 2020 about the movie, he actually did use the word “heartbreaking.”
I don’t know about the rest of you, but the way he’s talking about this Barney project speaks serious volumes. I’m very curious to know why he used that particular word. Based on Kaluuya’s explanation, he talked about the purple dinosaur’s most famous song. You all know the words: “I love you, you love me. Won’t you say you love me too?” That’s probably the most famous song we all remember from the Barney show. It’s a song all we ’90s babes sang along too, but Kaluuya wondered what would happen if that weren’t true. Basically, what if Barney loved his target audience, but they didn’t love him back?
Okay, so that actually sounds kind of sad. First of all, how can you not love Barney? Well, Kaluuya has imagined a world where those kids probably didn’t love Barney. That could possibly drive Barney insane, but we should also remember that this will be live-action. If that’s the case, then will the titular character actually be a dinosaur or will he be the man in the costume. I mean, it’s got to get uncomfortable and sweaty moving around in that costume for a while. Eventually, the man in the costume could possibly lose his mind, especially if he’s not getting the love he thinks he deserves. If that’s the case, then we’ll get a better understanding of that “heartbreaking” aspect he was referring to.
I honestly don’t know what else he could be possibly be thinking about for this project. On one hand, this is a different approach to the happy, purple dinosaur and it sounds like it can capture some attention. On the other hand, the very concept has me confused. I have no doubt Kaluuya’s production company has an intriguing idea behind this project and I just want to hear more. Honestly, the way he talks about it doesn’t make much sense, but that’s just what makes it interesting. As far as what they plan on doing with Barney, fans are already making their theories. Some think it will have the actual dinosaur, while others think it will be about the man in the costume. Either way, one of them will feel heartbroken by their unsympathetic fans and will take a dark turn.
Boy, I never thought I’d see the day when Barney went bad, but let’s wait and see. What are your thoughts? Are you prepared to see your favorite purple dinosaur go bad?
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