The Barbie movie has been a massive success because of its incredible writing, acting, visuals and directing. However, the Greta Gerwig film would have been very different if one actor hadn’t sent the director a personal email to secure a role.
The film has made nearly $1.2 billion from cinemas around the world and it will likely keep bringing in the big bucks as people keep flocking to theaters.
Advert
There has been a lot of praise for the movie's cast, with Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken respectively and a supporting cast consisting of big names like Kate McKinnon, Simu Liu, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman, Will Ferrell, America Ferrera and, of course, Michael Cera.
The Arrested Development alum plays the outcast and forgotten doll Allan.
However, the Allan we fell in love with on the big screen was almost played by a different actor.
Originally, the role of the lonely doll was offered to Broadway star Jonathan Groff, who is best known for his roles in the original productions of Spring Awakening and Hamilton. Groff also had a recurring role in Glee and pulled double-duty by voicing the roles of Kristoff and Sven in Disney’s behemoth Frozen franchise.
However, Groff had to turn down the Allan role in Barbie because it clashed with his commitment to the upcoming Doctor Who season.
Advert
In an interview with GQ, Cera explained how his casting was 'very last-minute'.
He said: "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'.”
The star added: “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'.”
Advert
Cera managed to get Gerwig’s personal email address from a mutual friend.
Since the notoriously private actor doesn’t have a smartphone or social media, which he said in the past has held him back in Hollywood, a lot was riding on this email.
After sending the email to Gerwig, the Little Women director got in touch via Zoom and the pair chatted about Allan and then ‘it just all happened really fast from there’, he said.
The Superbad star once opened up about his disdain for social media after being asked why he snubs smartphones.
Advert
“It doesn’t feel conscious,” he told The Hollywood Reporter about his decision to avoid social media. “Because everybody does it, it starts to feel like a big choice. But it’s just not interesting to me.”
Cera also explained the origin story for his ‘aversion’ to smartphones, which dates back to his friend essentially phubbing him while having dinner.
Phubbing is when someone is more focused on their phone than on the conversation happening around them.
After revealing his decision to not have a smartphone is a ‘conscious choice’, he added: “Because I feel a bit of fear about it honestly like I’d really lose control of my waking life.
Advert
"Right when people started having smartphones, when it was Blackberries, I had lunch with a friend of mine who was my best friend at the time, and he’d just gotten a Blackberry, and for the whole meal he was typing emails, and I was sat there lonely and bored.
"So I had an early aversion to them.”