Um, Ben Affleck Was *This* Close to Getting a Cameo in ‘Barbie’

First, we heard that Dan Levy, Ben Platt and Bowen Yang were all slated to be Kens in Greta Gerwig's Barbie. Then, Helen Mirren told Variety that Olivia Colman almost made it into the fantasy comedy film. And now, Barbie star Michael Cera has revealed yet another surprising A-lister who missed out on a cameo.

The 35-year-old actor sat down with Entertainment Weekly and revealed that Air star Ben Affleck was supposed to join the star-studded cast. However, due to scheduling conflicts, Cera had to replace him.

"I wasn't even supposed to fight in the movie. It was supposed to be Ben Affleck," he told EW, referring to his action scene with the construction workers. "I think Ben wanted to do it, but he was directing his movie [Air]. They didn't find that out until the 11th hour."

Although Cera didn't confirm which role Affleck was supposed to play, he revealed that taking the actor's place was a bit of a challenge because he had to perform stunts right after recovering from COVID.

He said, "They're like, 'OK, Ben is out. Something has to happen here, so you're gonna fight them.' I had to jump in with the stunt team. I had just gotten over COVID and they had me training and I almost died just doing a warm-up. I had to lie down in the trailer and they sent a nurse to see me."

Thankfully, the actor pulled it off and nailed his scenes—so much so that fans are now hoping for an Allan spin-off.