Ben Affleck forced to pull out of Barbie cameo: here's why

Ben Affleck was tapped for a cameo in Greta Gerwig’s star-studded film, Barbie.

Michael Cera, who played the role of Allan in the 2023 fantasy comedy film, made the bombshell revelation during a Q&A session attended by The A.V. Club on Thursday.

He revealed that the Batman alum was supposed to fight the construction workers instead of him during one of the scenes.

“I wasn’t even supposed to fight in the movie,” the Scott Pilgrim star said. “Am I allowed to say what it was supposed to be? It was supposed to be Ben Affleck. Right? Am I allowed to say that?”

However, according to Cera, despite Affleck’s willingness to do the scene, the actor was reportedly busy directing a film at the time.

“I think Ben wanted to do it, but he was directing his movie,” he explained, noting he was tapped in at the “11th hour” to replace Affleck.

“They’re like, ‘Okay, Ben’s out, something has to happen here. So you’re gonna fight them.’ So I had to jump in with the stunt team,” Cera recalled.

The Arrested Development actor added: “That was never part of Allan’s journey. In the rehearsal, we did the thing where I murder the guy with the shovel and it was just a joke, and we were like ‘Greta’s not going to let me murder someone in the movie.’ And it’s in the movie!”