Matt Bomer Reveals Why He Really Turned Down a Role in Barbie
Matt Bomer didn’t have the Kenergy to star in Barbie amid his busy schedule.
After all, the actor shared insight into his decision to turn down a chance to be one of the many Kens in the movie and focus on his role in Bradley Cooper’s Maestro, along with spending time with his husband Simon Halls and their kids.
"Even though my part in Maestro was smaller, Bradley was so collaborative with me from the get-go," Matt told Business Insider in an interview published April 10. “It was such an immersive experience that to have just flown in from London to film my scenes [in Barbie] really quick and fly back to London—I feel like Maestro wouldn't have been the same experience for me."
The 47-year-old—who starred opposite Bradley’s Leonard Bernstein as his lover David Oppenheim—emphasized that the biopic taught him so much as a dramatic actor that will shape “the rest of my career on film."
In the end, focusing on the Netflix film—which earned seven nominations at the 2024 Oscars, including Best Picture—was the best choice for him.
"It was a way of working that I'm really grateful that I got to be exposed to," Matt—who is dad to Kit, 20, and 17-year-old twins Walker and Henry—added. "I wouldn't have, I think, if I were trying to just squeeze it in."
The White Collar alum previously applauded the casting choices in the Greta Gerwig-directed film.
"I hope I get to work with Greta someday—she's phenomenal," he shared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in December 2023. "But I think they made a perfect movie and it was cast perfectly, and I got to do Fellow Travelers and Maestro and spend time with my family."
Although Matt ultimately walked away from the opportunity, that doesn't mean he didn't put in the work while first auditioning for the film, which earned eight nominations at the 2024 Academy Awards and won Best Original Song for Billie Eilish's "What Was I Made For?"
"I recorded it on my own, played a bunch of different Kens—and I dressed differently for all of them," he told Vanity Fair in November 2023. "I recorded the lines of the other person's dialogue on my recorder and then gave myself space to respond."
Now, read on to see all the Barbies and Kens who almost made it to Barbieland.
Seven years before Greta Gerwig's version of Barbie premiered, a movie based on the popular doll was already in the works at Sony, with the comedian attached to the project.
And while in 2017, she announced she wouldn't be able to star in the film due to scheduling conflicts, earlier this year, she revealed the real reason behind her exit.
"I think we said it was scheduling conflicts," she said during a June 2023 episode of Watch What Happens Live. "That's what we said. But it really was just like, creative differences. But there's a new team behind it and it looks like it's very feminist and cool, so I will be seeing this movie."
The Trainwreck star's sentiment echoes what she previously shared about the direction she realized the project was going in.
"They definitely didn't want to do it the way I wanted to do it, the only way I was interested in doing it," she told the Hollywood Reporter in March 2022.
Noting that she wanted Barbie to be an "inventor," she said the studio had the idea that a creation of hers would be heels made of Jell-O and later sent her a pair of Manolo Blahniks."
The idea that that's just what every woman must want, right there," she said, "I should have gone, ‘You've got the wrong gal.'"
After Amy's departure, the Devil Wears Prada alum signed up in 2018 to replace the comedian, with a set release date of 2020. But by the end of that year, Deadline confirmed that Anne was no longer attached to the project, which had made its way over to Warner Bros. with Margot Robbie as Barbie instead.
Margot, who serves both star and co-producer of Barbie, originally envisioned the Wonder Woman star to lead the Barbie world.
"Gal Gadot is Barbie energy," Margot told Vogue of the actress, who wasn't available for the part. "Because Gal Gadot is so impossibly beautiful, but you don't hate her for being that beautiful because she's so genuinely sincere, and she's so enthusiastically kind, that it's almost dorky. It's like right before being a dork."
Ahead of Barbie's premiere, the Lady Bird alum (and longtime collaborator of Greta's) revealed she was up for a special cameo in the film. Alas, she was busy shooting The Outrun in Scotland at the time.
"I was supposed to do a cameo because I live in London and they were [filming] there," she told People. "There was a whole character I was going to play—another Barbie. I was gutted I couldn't do it."
Saoirse wasn't the only one Greta was hoping would make a special appearance, as the director revealed she also had her eyes set on Lady Bird's Timothée Chalamet.
"I was also going to do a specialty cameo with Timmy, and both of them couldn't do it, and I was so annoyed," Greta told CinemaBlend. "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."
The Schitt's Creek alum was unable to take on a role of a Ken due to the cast having to spend three months filming in London, the film's casting director Allison Jones told Vanity Fair.
The actor himself told People in January 2024, "Logistically could not make it work despite desperately trying to. So, yeah, I guess I was technically unavailable to do that."
He added, "Does it haunt me when I sleep at night Sometimes. It's not like it isn't like one of the biggest movies of all time. That was a tough, that was a tough day."
Another Ken that could've been? Saturday Night Live star Bowen Yang also wasn't available to film, according to Allison.
And last but not least, Ben Platt rounded out the trio of potential Kens, who, as Allison revealed, were "really bummed they couldn't do it."
The Glee alum felt decidedly not gleeful about missing out on the role as Allan (which would later go to Michael Cera).
"Dear, dear Jonathan Groff was like, ‘I can't believe I'm typing this," Allison shared, "but I can't do Allan."
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