I’m Gagged and Weeping Over the ‘Kens’ (and Allan) We Almost Had
When the cast for Barbie was first announced, we were all collectively losing it over how talented the roster was, and as expected, they certainly didn’t disappoint. However, Vanity Fair just revealed the actors who almost had a spot in the movie as fellow Kens, and now I’m just weepy over the possibilities!
In conversation with Vanity Fair, casting director Allison Jones revealed that, due to COVID filming complications, three actors weren’t able to join the set as Kens: Ben Platt (Dear Evan Hansen), Dan Levy (Schitt’s Creek), and—my personal devastation here—Bowen Yang (SNL).
My god, can you imagine??? Dan Levy and Bowen Yang are both such charismatic and magnetic performers, with incredible senses of humor that have guaranteed my interest in whatever they’re cast in. And though I’m not as familiar with Ben Platt’s work, from what I do know of him, he’s more than capable of bringing that endearing, slightly bumbling but mostly well-intentioned energy that’s perfectly befitting of a Ken.
In particular, I’m bummed for Yang, as he recently shared in an IG story how frustrated he was with SNL “Barbenheimer” memes. People have been making mean-spirited jokes about how “one good thing about the writer’s strike is how we won’t get an SNL Barbenheimer skit.” Bowen retorted thusly:
They would have been especially gagged if they got to see him work in the film itself. Alas, COVID.
The real rub of it all, though, is the fact that we almost got a different Allan in Jonathan Groff. Jonathan Groff. Oh my god. Don’t get me wrong, I love Michael Cera to death and he did a fantastic job, but we could have had Patty from Looking as ALLAN. That would have been so perfect! He would have been so perfect!
I almost wish we didn’t learn these things about popular films after the fact because it just makes me wonder “What if.” Ultimately, Barbie is still a fantastic film with a phenomenal cast that gave their roles 100%. But, still. What if?
(featured image: FX / Warner Bros. / NBC)
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