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:
