The summer of 2023 has been a delightful one for cinegoers. They witnessed the clash of the decade at the box office with Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’ and Greta Gerwig’s ‘Barbie.’ Both films fared very well at the box office, and critics and audiences unanimously liked both pieces. However, ‘Barbie’ led the collection race by collecting $1 billion worldwide.
‘Barbie’ is a story about the titular character, played by Margot Robbie, going on about everyday life in Barbie Land. However, an inconvenience takes her to the real world, which baffles the doll, taking her on a mission to restore the peace in her world after Ken disturbs the peace after returning from the real world. Amidst this Barbie and Ken battle, we see Allan, played by Michael Cera, feeling lost and trying to find relatability in the strikingly different worlds of the two. In a recent interview, he talked about how he bagged the interesting role of Allan.
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Michael Cera Almost Lost The Role Of Allan In ‘Barbie’
The history of Allan in Mattle has been a turbulent one. First, he was introduced as a companion to Ken. However, he got discontinued, and then he was reintroduced as the better half of Midge in Barbie’s ‘Happy Family’ collection. However, later, both were discontinued.
Years later, Greta Gerwig resurrected the doll in her feature ‘Barbie.’ However, the presentation of Allan differed from how he was introduced. He was depicted as a lost character in the worlds of Ken and Barbie. Although he was Ken’s friend, Allan hung out with the Barbies a lot because he related to them better than the men in Barbie Land.
During a recent interview with GQ, Michael Cera narrated the incident of him almost not getting cast in the film. He said, “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.’ “
He continued, “‘It’s the ‘Barbie’ movie. Greta Gerwig’s directing it, and it’s filming in London for four months of something, so I told them you probably wouldn’t want to to do it because you probably don’t want to go to London.’ “
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The Actor Bagged The Role Through A Zoom Call
Michael Cera was surprised when the manager almost declined the offer to feature in ‘Barbie.’ In the interview, he continued, “I was like, ‘What! 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 then proceeded to negotiate for the role himself. The actor added, “I somehow got Greta’s email address, I think through a common friend of ours, and I emailed her like, ‘Can I be in it? Can I do that part?’. And she 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, like, ‘Click the link whenever you’re ready.’ And then we talked about it, and it just all happened really fast from there.”
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