Barbie: Timothee Chalamet Teases What His Scrapped Cameo Could Have Been

Greta Gerwig's Barbie became a landmark part of popular culture in 2023, grossing over $1 billion at the global box office and sparking a cultural phenomenon. For those who were already familiar with Gerwig's filmography, one element of Barbie was surprising — it didn't include cameos from her frequent collaborators Saoirse Ronan and Timothee Chalamet, who she previously worked with on her films Little Women and Lady Bird. While Gerwig has already spoken about the fact that both Ronan and Chalamet were ultimately cut from the film, the latter actor has revealed how little he knows about what that would have looked like. During a recent appearance on The Tonight Show, Chalamet addressed the fact that he didn't appear in Barbie, and jokingly guessed that his cameo would've been as a "reject French" version of Ken.

"There was an idea for Saoirse Ronan and I to do a cameo in it," Chalamet revealed. "I don't know what the cameo would've been. I think it would've been one of the rejected Kens or Barbies. Not Alan! Maybe there was a reject French one along the way."

Why Is Timothée Chalamet Not in Barbie?

As Gerwig revealed in an interview earlier this year, she had made plans to include both Chalamet and Ronan in the film, but it did not work out due to scheduling conflicts.

"It was always going to have to be like a sort of smaller thing because she was actually producing at the time, which I am so proud of her for," Gerwig explained. "And of course, it's brilliant. But it was going to be a specialty cameo. I was also going to do a specialty cameo with Timmy. Both of them couldn't do it and I was so annoyed. But I love them so much. But it felt like doing something without my children. I mean, I'm not their mom, but I sort of feel like their mom."

What Is Barbie About?

In Barbie, to live in Barbie Land is to be a perfect being in a perfect place. Unless you have a full-on existential crisis. Or you're a Ken. From Oscar-nominated writer/director Greta Gerwig comes Barbie, which hit theaters on July 21st. Barbie stars Oscar-nominees Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken, alongside America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Michael Cera, Ariana Greenblatt, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman, and Will Ferrell. The film also stars Ana Cruz Kayne, Emma Mackey, Hari Nef, Alexandra Shipp, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Simu Liu, Ncuti Gatwa, Scott Evans, Jamie Demetriou, Connor Swindells, Sharon Rooney, Nicola Coughlan, Ritu Arya, Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Dua Lipa and Oscar-winner Helen Mirren. Gerwig directed Barbie from a screenplay by Gerwig & Oscar nominee Noah Baumbach, based on Barbie by Mattel. 

Are you sad that Timothee Chalamet was not in Barbie? Who would you have liked to see him cameo as? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!