In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Golden Globe winner Matt Bomer has confirmed that he nearly starred as one of the Kens in Greta Gerwig’s live-action Barbie movie. He recalled the casting process for the blockbuster hit, revealing that his audition tape featured him dressing as different types of Ken.
“I recorded it on my own, played a bunch of different Kens — and I dressed differently for all of them,” Bomer said. “I recorded the lines of the other person’s dialogue on my recorder and then gave myself space to respond.”
The Doom Patrol actor shared that he ultimately turned down the opportunity of playing Ken, explaining that he opted “not to spend extensive time away from his family,” instead going abroad for the film’s production. Besides Bomer, there were other actors who were meant to appear in Barbie such as Bowen Yang, Dan Levy, and Ben Platt.
Barbie Earns Multiple Grammy Nominations
Following its critical and commercial success, Barbie recently received 11 Grammy nominations, including Record of the Year for Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” and Song of the Year for Dua Lipa’s “Dance the Night.” In addition, Ryan Gosling has also earned his first Grammy nomination for Best Song Written for Visual Media for his iconic song “I’m Just Ken.”
The film starred Robbie, Gosling, America Ferrera, Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Scott Evans, Kate McKinnon, Ariana Greenblatt, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Mackey, Issa Rae, Michael Cera, Hari Nef, Will Ferrell, Helen Mirren, Dua Lipa, and more. It also featured music from multiple artists including Billie Eilish, Nicki Minaj, Lizzo, Dua Lipa, Ice Spice, and K-Pop girl group Fifty Fifty.
Barbie was directed by Gerwig from a screenplay she co-wrote with Noah Baumbach. It was produced by Robbie and Tom Ackerly for LuckyChap and Mattel Films’ Robbie Brenner along with Josey McNamara and Ynon Kreiz. During its theatrical run, it earned a worldwide gross of over $1.4 billion, making it the highest-grossing movie of 2023.
