Michael Cera discusses his “very last-minute casting” in the Barbie movie.
Summary
- Michael Cera has dished up some details on his role in the billion dollar Barbie movie.
- Cera contacted director Greta Gerwig directly to express his interest in the role.
- The character Allan is a unique addition to the Barbie universe, with Cera’s live-action iteration often a scene-stealer.
“I need to do it!” Those were the exact words Michael Cera said to his manager when the actor learned that Greta Gerwig wanted him to star in Barbie as Allan. It was arguably perfect casting because in Barbieland there’s only one Allan, and in Hollywood there’s only one Michael Cera. But the star of such hits as Arrested Development, Superbad and Juno almost missed out on the opportunity. Cera said in a recent interview with GQ:
“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.’”
Cera couldn’t believe his ears when his manager broke the news to him. Had the actor not insisted his representative fix things, who knows if the thespian would have even played Allan. And it would have been one of the all-time missed opportunities given the critical and financial success of Barbie this summer. Cera continued:
“I was like, ‘What! What do you mean? Call them back!’ He didn’t like blow it or anything, but he’s like, ‘I managed their expectations that you might not want to do it.’ I was like, ‘How can I not do it? I need to do it!’”
Michael Cera Almost Missed Out on Playing Allan
Greta Gerwig’s Barbie has made over $1.2 billion at the worldwide box office in just five weekends of release. The Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling-led adaptation of the famous Mattel doll has become the biggest blockbuster of 2023. But Michael Cera and his manager had to work hard to make sure the actor actually got to play the role of Allan.
“So, I somehow got Greta’s email address I think through a common friend of ours. And I emailed her. I was like, ‘Can I be in it? Can I do that part?’ And she [Gerwig] 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 just like, ‘Just click that link whenever you’re ready.’ And then we talked about it, and it just all happened really fast from there.”
While the Allan doll is a one-of-a-kind character in the Barbie mythos, there are variations on Ken’s friend in the world of toys. First introduced in 1964 alongside Barbie’s sister Skipper, the spelling of Allan’s name was changed to “Alan” in 1991. The ‘Wedding Day Alan’ doll married Barbie’s friend Midge, who is played by Emerald Fennell in Gerwig’s adaptation. At the time of this writing, Alan and Midge are the only married dolls in the Barbie toy line.
Barbie is scheduled to be released on digital on September 5, 2023.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
