Barbie Star Michael Cera Was Cast in Fan-Favorite Role at the Last Minute

While there are multiple Barbies and Kens in the upcoming Barbie movie, there’s just one Allan. Ken’s red-haired best friend, Allan not only a bit of an outlier in the overall world of Barbies, but he’s also a fan-favorite, but it turns out that when it comes to the eagerly anticipated Greta Gerwig directed film, Michael Cera — who plays Allan — was actually a last-minute addition. Speaking with Rolling Stone, Cera revealed that he was brought on just before production began, explaining that Allan’s iconic red hair in the movie is a wig.

“It came up very last minute for me,” Cera said. “I was brought in really right before they started the movie. It was just so exciting to be there. Amazing people to be around. It was a full wig.

He also broke down the work that went in to transforming into Allan and, thus, a living doll.

“It takes a lot of work! Everybody on the movie had to get full body makeup,” Cera said. “And it’s really the breaking down of it. At the end of the day, they take almond oil onto a rag [to take it off] and it smells weird, and then you have to go home and take a shower. We’re all painted to be all Barbie-toned.”

The Barbie Set is So Detailed It Caused an International Pink Paint Shortage

While full body paint for the movie may seem like a lot, as it turns out, everything about the Barbie movie is very detailed, including the set. The set for Barbie Land is specifically so pink with the creation of all of the Dreamhouses that the creation of things quite literally led to a shortage of a specific shade of pink.

“The world ran out of pink” Gerwig told Architectural Digest.

“Maintaining the ‘kid-ness’ was paramount,” Gerwig shared. “I wanted the pinks to be very bright, and everything to be almost too much.” In other words, she continues, she didn’t want to “forget what made me love Barbie when I was a little girl.”

“I wanted to capture what was so ridiculously fun about the Dreamhouses,” continued Gerwig. “…Why walk down stairs when you can slide into your pool? Why trudge upstairs when you take an elevator that matches your dress?”

What is the Barbie Movie About?

The Barbie movie will see Robbie’s Barbie head out into the real world to find true happiness after experiencing an existential crisis in Barbieland. The film is directed by Gerwig with a script from Gerwig and Noah Baumbach.

“The first time I read the ‘Barbie’ script, my reaction was, ‘Ah! This is so good. What a shame it will never see the light of day,’” Robbie revealed in an interview earlier this year. “‘because they are never going to let us make this movie.’ But they did.”

Barbie will star Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken, as well as Issa Rae as President Barbie, Alexandra Shipp as Writer Barbie, Emma Mackey as Physicist Barbie, Ana Cruz Kayne as Judge Barbie, Ritu Arya as Journalist Barbie, Nicola Coughlan as Diplomat Barbie, Dua Lipa as Mermaid Barbie, Kate McKinnon as Gymnast Barbie, Hari Nef as Doctor Barbie, Sharon Rooney as Lawyer Barbie. Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Ncuti Gatwa, and Scott Evans will all play different versions of Ken, with Emerald Fennell as Midge, Michael Cera as Allan.

The cast of Barbie also includes Will Ferrell, Helen Mirren, Jamie Demetriou, Connor Swindells, America Ferrera, Arana Greenblatt, Rhea Perlman, John Cena, and Marisa Abela.

Barbie will be released exclusively in theaters on July 21st.