Michael Cera says his manager nearly cost him ‘last-minute’ Allan role in Barbie movie

Actor’s role as discontinued doll was a hit with audiences

Michael Cera has revealed that he very nearly lost out on the chance to play fan-favourite Allan in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie.

The 35-year-old Canadian actor stars as Mattel’s discontinued doll in the blockbuster hit, led by Margot Robbie as the eponymous doll who’s forced to venture into the real world to discover her life’s purpose.

Since the comedy’s release in cinemas last month, Cera instantly won over audiences with his awkward and off-beat portrayal of the singular Allan.

In a recent video interview with GQ, the Superbad star said that his casting was “very last-minute”.

“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,’” Cera recalled.

“And I was like, ‘What?! What do you mean? Call them back,’” Cera continued. “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.’”

The Juno actor explained that he connected with Gerwig via email, where he asked the Lady Bird director if he could do the part.

After jumping on a Zoom to discuss the part, Cera said: “It all just happened really fast from there.”

In his own words, he described Allan as 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,” Cera added. Allan was introduced in 1964 as the best friend of Barbie’s boyfriend, Ken. He was discontinued two years later, in 1966, due to low sales.

Barbie, which was released in cinemas on 21 July, has already broken several box-office records.

With sales exceeding $1bn worldwide, it made history as the highest-grossing release for a female director.

Wednesday’s (16 August) figures put Barbie at $537.5m (£421.7m) in domestic box office earnings, officially putting it ahead of Christopher Nolan’s 2008 superhero movie The Dark Knight ($536m) and making it the Warner Bros’ highest-grossing domestic release ever.