Who Isn't In Greta Gerwig's 'Barbie' ?
So far she's cast Will Ferrell, Michael Cera, Issa Rae and your best friend from high school
In 2019, it was announced that Australian actress Margot Robbie would be starring in and producing a film about Barbie (the doll) that had been in various stages of development hell since 2014, with everyone from Amy Schumer to Anne Hathaway attached to play the multi-talented diminutive icon/children’s toy. Then, in 2021, it was announced that Greta Gerwig would direct and co-write the screenplay with her partner in both art and life, Noah Baumbach. Filming allegedly began earlier this year, but most people had since forgotten about the production that Robbie described as a “great opportunity to put some positivity out in the world,” and I personally assumed it would fade into the abyss.
That is until the cast announcements started rolling in. Every day for what feels like the last month, we are told a new well-known actor has joined this film. So far we know that Robbie will play Barbie, and Ryan Gosling will play Ken. Ok, that makes sense — I can wrap my head around this news. Included alongside the two are:
- America Ferrera
- Kate Mckinnon
- Simu Liu
- Hari Nef
- Will Ferrell (the only recently announced cast member with a clear role as of this point, which is “the CEO of a toy company that may or not be Mattel”)
- Issa Rae
- Michael Cera
- Rhea Perlman
- Emerald Fennell
- Kingsley Ben-Adir
- Alexandra Shipp
- Sharon Rooney
- Jamie Demetriou
- Three actors from the main cast of Netflix’s Sex Education named Emma Mackey, Ncuti Gatwa and Connor Swindells
The threat of more stars being added to this looms over trade publications every single day. This many famous people should not be in one film. It’s distracting. Did we learn nothing from Death on the Nile?
