Ryan Gosling may or may not be your ideal Ken in the new “Barbie” movie, but one of the film’s casting directors has shared who else might have gotten the role. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Allison Jones revealed some of the other actors who were considered for the iconic role.
Like the line of dolls the movie is based on, there are multiple Barbies and Kens portrayed by a diverse cast of actors. However, not everyone who wanted in was able to participate. According to Jones, Covid restrictions at the time meant having to spend three months in London where a great deal of the movie was filmed. This meant that Bowen Yang, Dan Levy, and Ben Platt were out of the running to play Ken. “They were, I’m not kidding, really bummed they couldn’t do it,” Jones said.
And they weren’t the only ones angling for the role. Jones mentioned that “Simu Liu was dying to be a Ken, God bless him,” referring to the actor who was eventually cast as one of the Kens. She also revealed that actor Jonathan Groff had to turn down the role of Ken’s friend Allan.
Multiple aspiring Barbi
e and Kens sent in audition tapes, and director Greta Gerwig was keen on speaking with the possible actors before even sending them the script to read. “She really wanted to get to know them as people,” said Lucy Bevan, who cast the film alongside Jones. “That was very important to her. On the key Barbie and Ken roles, she got a very good idea of what an actor was like from talking to them.”
In the end, Margot Robbie snagged the main role of Barbie, while Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, and Dua Lipa also joined the diverse cast as other Barbies in the film.
It seems the casting process for the new “Barbie” movie was a challenging one, with many talented actors vying for the iconic roles. Moviegoers will have to wait and see how the final cast brings the beloved dolls to life on the big screen.