21 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About How These Celebs Were Cast In Greta Gerwig's "Barbie"

Greta Gerwig knew that Ryan Gosling could pull off Ken after watching him in an SNL sketch. She wrote the whole movie with Ryan in mind, even before she asked him about the role.

There are some spoilers ahead for Barbie!

1. First, Margot Robbie's production company produced Barbie, so she never had to audition for the role. However, once she brought Greta Gerwig on as the writer/director, she "made it very clear to Greta" that she didn't have to star in the movie. Margot explained that she was just "very passionate" about making it as a producer.

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Then, Greta told Margot that she "really wanted to write this" for her, so Margot ended up playing Stereotypical Barbie. During the casting process, Greta and Margot personally met with each actor who was eventually offered a job.

2. Ryan Gosling was always who Greta and Margot envisioned playing Ken in Barbie. Greta revealed that after seeing Ryan in the "Guy Who Just Bought a Boat" sketch on Saturday Night Live, she knew that he was very comedic and would be perfect.

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Even before Ryan accepted the job, Greta wrote in the script "Ken (Ryan Gosling)" in hopes that they would manifest the casting. In fact, when she sent the script to Warner Bros., they thought Greta knew Ryan personally and had asked him to be in the movie, but she had never met him at the time.

3. When America Ferrera was approached about Gloria, a main reason why she said yes was because it was written by Greta and Noah Baumbach, directed by Greta, and produced by Margot. "I read the script, and I was laughing on page one, then I was crying, and then I was laughing and crying," she said.

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She continued, saying, "By the time I was done, I was deeply shocked at how invested I felt. I was fully in, and really quite giddy. [Greta and Noah] didn’t ignore what was problematic about Barbie, or the multitude of perspectives that people have."

4. Ariana Greenblatt, who stars as Sasha, did a pretty standard Zoom audition with Greta and Margot. Reflecting on her audition, she said she was just trying to "cherish this moment forever." Ariana revealed she's idolized Margot since seeing her as Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad.

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When she officially got cast, Ariana said her mom and brother broke the news to her by surprising her with a Barbie cake and afternoon tea, since the movie would be filming in London, while blasting "Barbie Girl" by Aqua.

5. Emma Mackey was cast as a Barbie because Greta and Margot thought it would be funny to have her in the movie after people continuously pointed out how similar Emma and Margot look in real life. Originally, there was even a joke written in about them looking alike.

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"I've been getting told for years that I look like the girl from Sex Education, who is Emma Mackey," Margot explained. "She plays one of the Barbies in the movie pretty much because Greta and I thought it would be funny. We were gonna do this whole joke about us looking similar."

6. Ncuti Gatwa originally auditioned for a different role in Barbie before landing the role of a Ken. During his first audition, he didn't have the full script or a synopsis and simply had one, out of context, scene. About a month later, he was brought back in to read for Ken.

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"This sounds so arrogant," Ncuti began. "But my agent said that Greta hadn't been able to stop thinking about me, so I was asked back to audition for Ken. Which was confusing because Ryan was Ken!" Eventually, Greta asked to meet with Ncuti, and then he was cast.

7. Greta sent Kate McKinnon the script for Barbie hoping she would play Weird Barbie. Greta and Kate actually attended college together and were in an improv group.

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Greta recalled, "We were just 19 making a weird musical together and thinking, like, 'I hope someone will wanna work with us one day.' Then, cut to 39 and to just be calling her and saying, 'Do you wanna be in this big thing?'"

8. A junior agent on Simu Liu's team spoke up during a meeting and told Simu, "If I could stake my career on any one script, it's the Barbie script. I really think you should do it." Then, Simu sent in a self-taped audition, and Greta requested to meet him.

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During his meeting with Greta, she talked about her love for watching men dance and how it's "an expression of artistry you're not used to seeing from typical men." Simu mentioned he was on a competitive hip-hop dance team in college, and that sold Greta.

9. Michael Cera was cast as Allan, arguably one of the best characters in Barbie, after Jonathan Groff turned down the role due to a scheduling conflict.

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Casting director Allison Jones recalled, "Dear, dear Jonathan Groff was like, 'I can’t believe I’m typing this, but I can’t do Allan.'"

10. Greta pitched Issa Rae the idea for Barbie and wanted her to be in it, but at first, Issa was skeptical. Then, she read the script and was like, "Oh, I get it!" She added, "It's very funny, and it's just very specific to [Greta]."

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Issa elaborated that her initial worry was that the film would "feel too white feminist-y," however, after she read the script, she realized it was very self-aware. She added, "Barbie Land is perfect, right? It represents perfection. So, if perfection is just a bunch of white Barbies, I don’t know that anybody can get on board with that."

11. Nicola Coughlan auditioned for Barbie in January 2022 while she was on vacation with friends. She recorded a self-tape wearing a hot pink dress she brought with her. Nicola revealed she's been desperate to work with Greta since seeing Frances Ha, which Greta wrote and starred in.

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After Nicola was offered the role of a Barbie, she almost had to turn it down because of her busy schedule filming other projects, like Bridgerton Season 3. However, Greta, Margot, and the rest of the production team figured out how to make it work so Nicola could have a small role.

12. The older woman that Barbie says is beautiful is Academy Award-winning costume designer Ann Roth. Greta is friends with Ann and asked her to appear in this quick moment, and called her "a legend."

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Greta believes this scene is the heart of the movie, and it was originally suggested that she cut it from the final film. However, Greta refused, saying, "If I cut the scene, I don’t know what this movie is about."

13. Kingsley Ben-Adir, who hadn't done a lot of comedy, was a surprise during the audition process. He reportedly showed a very "playful" side that surprised the casting directors and Greta.

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“Not a big comedy résumé. It’s always a joy when you can discover that somebody is funny," recalled casting director Allison Jones.

14. Due to her busy schedule, Hari Nef nearly had to turn down the chance to star as a Barbie. However, she wrote Greta and Margot a letter about why the role was important to her and hoped that they could "fudge the schedule a little bit" so she could be in it.

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Hari's letter talked about how important Barbie, and the idea of "THE doll," was to her, writing, "'Doll' is fraught, glamorous; she is, and she isn’t. [Hari and her friends] call ourselves 'the dolls' in the face of everything we know we are, never will be, hope to be. We yell the word because the word matters. And no doll matters more than Barbie."

15. During pre-production, both Greta and Margot hoped that Emerald Fennell would come play Midge. At the same time that Margot was coordinating Emerald to appear in Barbie, she was also working with Emerald on the upcoming movie Saltburn, which Emerald wrote and directed and Margot's production company produced.

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"I'm trying to organize as a producer her coming in and doing hair and makeup tests for Barbie, and deals and stuff. But, at the same time, with our other production prepping Saltburn," Margot explained. "The first AD kept calling me and being like, 'Um, what am I hearing about Emerald coming in to do a hair and makeup fitting on Barbie, we're doing tech scouts that day for Saltburn.'" Margot and Emerald previously worked together on Promising Young Woman, which Emerald wrote and directed, and Margot produced.

16. Scott Evans never thought he'd actually get cast in Barbie, but he auditioned anyway and felt really confident during his first self-tape. Eventually, he got a call that Greta wanted to meet him over Zoom, and he said it immediately felt like talking with an old friend.

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Scott said he had previously met Margot at an Oscars afterparty he was attending with his brother Chris Evans. He danced with Margot, and she even remembered the moment when he re-introduced himself during the Barbie process.

17. Rhea Perlman was reportedly on a short list of very few actors who were considered to play Ruth Handler, the creator of Barbie.

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"She was very close to the real woman, which was important, to ground it in those scenes," explained casting director Lucy Bevan.

18. Alexandra Shipp had an initial conversation with Greta about Barbie before she read for a role. Then, she was officially offered the part. Like most of the cast, she didn't know much about the movie when she signed on, only that Margot and Greta were attached.

Karwai Tang / WireImage / Getty Images

Speaking about walking on set for the first time, Alexandra said, "Greta took us to where we would be shooting in Barbie Land, and I just started crying because it’s everything every little girl has ever dreamed of. They built an entire Barbie cul-de-sac, and we were just walking around it, and she was like, 'Alex, this is your house.'"

19. John Cena's role as Mermaid Ken came about after he ran into Margot while filming Fast X, which filmed across the street from Barbie in London. John asked Margot if he could pop up in Barbie and was willing to do anything.

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"I said, 'I will pretty much do whatever you guys need, 'cause I really enjoy the movie.' And they asked me if I wanted to be a merman. I said yeah, sure," John recalled. He previously worked with Margot on The Suicide Squad.

20. Love Island UK star Chris Taylor appears as a Ken who gives awards to other Kens when they take over Barbie Land. Chris landed the small cameo after he met Margot, who is a big fan of UK reality TV, at an afterparty for Birds of Prey.

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Chris was so stunned that he was asked to cameo in Barbie that he thought it was a prank. Speaking about meeting Margot, he said, "She's just really down to earth and cool. She's one of the nicest people I've ever met."

21. And finally, all of the background actors in Barbie Land are professional dancers. Greta explained they cast dancers because they "hold themselves differently" than non-dancers. So, it added to Barbie feeling like a classic soundstage musical, like Singin' in the Rain, Oklahoma!, and more.

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Greta explained, "Jenny White, our choreographer, said, 'Dancers...their bodies always have a direction,' and that's different than, sort of, normal people. So, I thought that was, in this conception of Barbie Land, it's a soundstage musical."

And, come hang out with everyone else who is screaming, crying, and throwing up about Barbie in BuzzFeed’s iOS app. Heck, even Allan is there.

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