The ‘Wonder Woman’ actress was Margot Robbie’s first choice to play the iconic toy character in the upcoming Greta Gerwig movie
Gal Gadot was initially considered to play the lead role of Barbie, Margot Robbie has surprisingly revealed.
The Wonder Woman 1984 star, 38, had actually been director Greta Gerwig and Robbie’s first choice to portray the iconic toy character, before the role eventually went to the Australian actress.
Robbie, who is also producer of the upcoming film, said in new interview with Vogue that she and Gerwig, 39, had been searching for someone who had “Barbie energy” — and thought Gadot was perfect for the part.
“Gal Gadot is Barbie energy,” the July 2023 cover star said.
“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”.
Gadot unfortunately couldn’t commit to the role at the time, and so Robbie stepped in as lead.
Long before Gadot was considered for the role, Amy Schumer was originally announced as the lead of Sony’s live-action Barbie movie in 2016, though four months later, in March 2017, she confirmed that she would no longer be in the movie, citing scheduling conflicts.
The Babylon star appears to have made the role her own though, judging by the viral trailers for the film — along with co-star Ryan Gosling, who plays Barbie’s boyfriend Ken.
Speaking on his transformation, Gosling, 42, said Robbie helped him get into character as Ken every day on set.
The actor told Vogue: “[Robbie] left a pink present with a pink bow, from Barbie to Ken, every day while we were filming.
“They were all beach-related. Like puka shells, or a sign that says ‘Pray for surf.’ Because Ken’s job is just beach. I’ve never quite figured out what that means. But I felt like she was trying to help Ken understand, through these gifts that she was giving.”
Robbie and Gosling appeared at CinemaCon 2023 last month, alongside writer-director Gerwig, to offer a preview of the much buzzed-about movie, as the official full-length trailer for Barbie made its debut.
That same day the film’s official Instagram account unveiled a variety of character posters, revealing who everyone is playing, which quickly went viral on social media as fans photoshopped their own faces on the posters.
The film features Kingsley Ben-Adir, Scott Evans, Simu Liu and Ncuti Gatwa appear as different versions of Ken in the film, while Hari Nef, Emma Mackey, Dua Lipa, Anna Cruz Kayne, Sharon Rooney, Kate McKinnon, Nicola Coughlan, Alexandra Shipp, Ritu Arya and Issa Rae play versions of Barbie.
Barbie is released worldwide in theaters on July 21.