2023 moviegoers have already been privy to a host of theatrical and streaming features boasting A+ ensembles, and there are certainly more on the way, but let’s go ahead and pencil in Barbie as having the most perfect cast from end to end. (Using only the pinkest of pencils, natch.) From Margot Robbie as the lead namesake to America Ferrera as a stressed-out Mattel employee to the gaggles of Barbies and Kens populating the fantasy world. It sounds like it was a dream for the record-breaking blockbuster’s casting directors, but they revealed quite a few unfortunate instances where their original choices for certain roles inevitably had to drop out of filming, such as SNL breakout Bowen Yang.
As difficult as it is to picture anyone else filling the on-screen roles that were brought to vibrant and magnetic life by co-stars such as Kingsley Ben-Adir, Ncuti Gatwa, Simu Liu and Scott Evans, there were indeed other actors in line to play various Kens alongside Ryan Gosling. Speaking with Vanity Fair, casting directors Lucy Bevan and Allison Jones discussed the frustration of COVID constraints requiring the cast to remain in London for the entire shoot, which meant that the following three actors were no longer available to potentially take part:
- Bowen Yang
- Dan Levy
- Ben Platt
That trio alone could have been a fabulous subsection of Kens who just sit around drinking — and you know they'd imbibe on classier potables than brewski-beers — while judging the rest of the Kens for being so oblivious. (My vote would be for The Other Two's Drew Tarver and Brandon Scott Jones to also join in.)
According to Allison Jones, the creative team weren't the only ones sad about the turn of events. As she put it:
They were, I’m not kidding, really bummed they couldn’t do it.
It's indeed a bummer knowing what could have been. Not that it takes anything away from the Barbie that is now blowing box office predictions out of the water, but if there were ever a time for a Sliding Doors-style experiement...
The comedy's major casting swap-outs weren't only limited to just the Ken-tourage, either. Though Scott Pilgrim and Arrested Development vet Michael Cera was a low-key scene-stealer as the one-off Allan, he came into the role only after another big name had to bow out: Hamilton and Frozen star Jonathan Groff. According to Allison Jones:
Dear, dear Jonathan Groff was like, ‘I can’t believe I’m typing this, but I can’t do Allan.'
It's not clear if he was also unable to take part due to the filming restrictions, or other scheduling issues, but it's wild to think about how Allan would have come across with Groff in the role. Cera embraced the kind of affable, passive energy that he's known for, but I'd have to imagine Groff's version being slightly less of a wallflower. And the musical vet almost definitely would have earned at least one showstopping number, and still will in the fan-fic version of Barbie that I'll be scrawling into a stack of journals later.
So anyone who hasn't yet dressed up in pink for a theatrical Barbie experience needs to get on that, so that we can start up loud conversations about a sequel with Bowen Yang, Dan Levy, Ben Platt and Jonathan Groff jumping on board.
