In a sea of Barbies and Kens, it was Michael Cera’s Allan who really won so many of our hearts during the Barbie movie. The offbeat character based on a real Barbie doll that was first released in 1964 became a major ally to the Barbies during a pivotal time in Barbieland, and now it’ll go down in history as one of the actor’s most iconic roles for sure. When speaking about the role recently, Cera recently disclosed that his manager actually almost helped him pass on the role.
While breaking down his career over the years to GQ, Michael Cera shared the origins of how he got the part of Allan. In his words:
It was a kind of very last minute casting. My manager got a call checking on my availability for it, and he called me and he said, ‘I got a call about this movie, it’s the Barbie movie, Greta Gerwig’s directing it, and it’s filming in London for four months or something.’ So I told them you probably wouldn’t want to do it because you probably don’t want to go to London. And I was like, ‘What?! What do you mean? Call them back.’ I mean, he didn’t blow it or anything, but he’s like, ‘I managed their expectations that you might not want to do it.’ And I was like, ‘How could I not do it? I need to do it.’
Now, Michael Cera and his wife actually welcomed their first child in the fall of 2021, just months before Barbie began filming at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden in England in March 2022. With a new baby, perhaps Cera’s manager assumed the actor wouldn’t want to be so far from his family at the time, but the actor seemed to recognize how rare the opportunity was. As he continued:
So, I somehow got Greta’s email address through a common friend of ours, and I emailed her, and I was like, ‘Can I be Allan? Can I do that part?’ And she was like, ‘Let’s get on a Zoom right now. Here’s a Zoom link. I’ll be on there for the next hour.’ So she was just hanging out on the Zoom. She’s like, ‘Just click that link whenever you’re ready.’ And then we talked about it and it all just happened really fast from there.
And then he was Allan! I’m sure I speak for a lot of fans of the Barbie movie when I say Michael Cera was perfect as Allan and we wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. Though it should be noted that Cera wasn’t actually the first choice for the role. Hamilton and Frozen’s Jonathan Groff was first offered the role and had to turn it down, likely due to scheduling issues with his other projects.
Other actors who the Barbie casting directors wanted to be part of the Barbie cast, but couldn’t participate due to COVID constraints were Saturday Night Live’s Bowen Yang, Schitt’s Creek star Dan Levy and Dear Evan Hansen’s Ben Platt. Considering the massive hit that Barbie has become, we imagine anyone who could have been in the flick and either said no or couldn’t make it work are seriously kicking themselves right now. The Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling-led flick not only on the way to becoming the biggest of 2023 new movie releases, it also broke an insane record this week as the highest-grossing domestic release for Warner Bros. yet.
Suffice to say that people will be waving “Hi, Allan!” to Michael Cera for years to come, and we’re happy the actor said yes to playing the Barbie character.
