This Wonder Woman was almost a Barbie.
Even though Gal Gadot couldn’t ultimately star in the Barbie movie due to scheduling conflicts, she had nothing but glowing words for Margot Robbie, who previously shared she heavily considered the Wonder Woman actress to take on the role of the iconic doll.
“I adore Margot,” Gal told Flaunt Magazine in an interview published Aug. 11. “Margot is one of those women who you just want to be friends with.”
Praising the Babylon actress as “so funny, warm, fun and smart and obviously so talented,” Gal, who attended the Los Angeles premiere of Barbie, noted she was still open to collaborating with Margot in the future.
“She brings so much to the table,” Gal continued. “I would love to do anything with Margot and was very touched [by her comments]. She warmed my heart with everything that she said about me. I’m super excited for them, and I’m so excited for Barbie.”
Margot told Vogue in May that she imagined Gal for a role in Barbie because the actress embodied such “Barbie energy.” However, Gal was not available at the time for the project.
“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,” the 33-year-old added. “It’s like right before being a dork.”
Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images/Christopher Polk/WWD via Getty ImagesWhile Margot ended up stepping into Barbie’s shoes, she noted that the decision was ultimately in the hands of director and cowriter Greta Gerwig.
“She was like, ‘No, I really wanna write this for you,'” Margot recalled to Teen Vogue. “And she wrote me an amazing part, so I’m very grateful.”
Keep reading to see which other stars almost joined Barbie.
Charles Sykes/BravoSeven 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 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.'”
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Critics Choice AssociationAfter 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.
Invision for Producers Guild of America/AP Images/ShutterstockMargot, 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.”
Mark Davis/Getty Images for Santa Barbara International Film FestivalAhead 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.”
Erik Pendzich/ShutterstockSaoirse 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.”
Bruce Glikas/WireImageThe 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.
Rich Fury/Getty ImagesAnother Ken that could’ve been? Saturday Night Live star Bowen Yang was another actor who couldn’t film, according to Allison.
Arturo Holmes/WireImageAnd last but not least, Ben Platt rounded out the trio of Ken potentials, who, as Allison revealed, were “really bummed they couldn’t do it.”
Rich Fury/Getty ImagesThe Glee alum felt quite the opposite 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.”
