Barbie: Meet the 4 gay A-list actors who auditioned to be Kens – but didn’t make the cut due to scheduling conflicts
“They were, I’m not kidding, really bummed they couldn’t do it,” said a casting director.
So many famous faces appear in Greta Gerwig’s pastel pink Barbie, but there were several well-known names that almost made the cut.
Barbie casting directors Lucy Bevan and Allison Jones have revealed their process for spotting the perfect Barbies and Kens.
Speaking to Vanity Fair, Bevan and Jones shared who also auditioned for Ken but didn’t get the role.
In the neon pink movie, Margot Robbie plays Stereotypical Barbie, the titular character.
Several other Barbie variants are played by Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Mackey, Ana Cruz Kayne, and more.
Ryan Gosling landed the role of Barbie’s Ken – and he was born for it! He’s joined by Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Scott Evans, Ncuti Gatwa and more as other Kens.
However, there were several other Kens in the running who didn’t make it to Barbie Land.
“They were, I’m not kidding, really bummed they couldn’t do it.”
Bevan and Jones revealed Bowen Yang, Dan Levy and Ben Platt were all considered as Kens. However, they were ultimately ruled out due to scheduling conflicts.
“They were, I’m not kidding, really bummed they couldn’t do it,” Jones said.
Michael Cera ended up with the role of Allan, Ken’s ‘buddy’ who has a fascinating queer legacy.
Cera got the role, Jones revealed, after Frozen‘s Jonathan Groff was unavailable.
“Dear, dear Jonathan Groff was like, ‘I can’t believe I’m typing this, but I can’t do Allan,’” Jones recalls.
Speaking to Attitude, Robbie spoke to the fan theories that Ken may be gay.
Asked if Barbie Land is as inclusive as we’d want the real world to be Robbie said: “It is but they are all dolls. So, they don’t have actually have sexual orientations because they don’t have any reproductive organs, we figured.”
However, on the film’s approach to LGBTQ representation, which here includes the casting of actors like Scott Evans and Hari Nef, she added: “We wanted everyone to feel represented in the movie.”
Barbie is in cinemas now.