Michael Cera has recently opened up about his “last-minute” casting in blockbuster Barbie movie.
In a new interview with GQ, the Superbad star revealed that his casting was “very last-minute” as he nearly lost the opportunity to play fan-favourite Allan in Greta Gerwig’s movie due to his manager.
“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,’” explained Cera.
The Juno actor stated, “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,’” clarified Cera.
Since the Barbie released on July 21, Cera has been successful to win over viewers with his “awkward and off-beat depiction of Allan character in the movie.
Recalling how he called Gerwig for the movie, Cera disclosed that he emailed the Lady Bird director and asked if he could do the part.
“I called Gerwig via Zoom and It all just happened really fast from there,” said the actor.
Reflecting on his character Allan in Barbie, Cera believed that he was “a sad figure who doesn’t really have any place in the world”.
“Allan is actually based on a real doll that enjoyed a very short production run,” added the actor.
For the unversed, Allan was introduced in 1964 as the best friend of Barbie’s boyfriend, Ken. He was reportedly discontinued two years later in 1966 due to low sales.
