Timothee Chalamet Regrets Not Being In The Summer’s Biggest Blockbuster
These days, it feels like Timothee Chalamet is everywhere: he’ll soon be headlining the ambitious sci-fi blockbuster Dune, Part Two, and we recently got our first look at what Chalamet will look like when he plays a young Willy Wonka out to establish his candy empire. One notable film that the hit actor missed out on, though, was Barbie, and it appears that Chalamet has some regrets about that. In a recent interview with Hollywood First Look, Barbie director Greta Gerwig revealed that Chalamet visited the set and came to a simple conclusion: “I should have been in this.”
Timothee Chalamet has worked with director Greta Gerwig twice before, but had to turn down a role in Barbie because of his busy schedule.
At first, it might be easy to dismiss Timothee Chalamet’s comment as basic regret. After all, Barbie made over one billion dollars at the box office, and Greta Gerwig made history by being the first solo female director to have a film make that much money. In short, Barbie was the hottest and most ground-breaking film of the summer, and it’s easy to imagine Chalamet has sour grapes over missing out on this success (honestly, he would have been perfect in Michael Cera’s role).
It’s easy to imagine Timothee Chalamet in Barbie as Alan, the role that eventually went to Michael Cera.
However, Timothee Chalamet’s regrets run a bit deeper than that because he has such a long and fruitful history with Greta Gerwig. The actor played a major role in two of her previous hit films (2017’s Lady Bird and 2019’s Little Women), and Gerwig would have been thrilled to have Chalamet play a role in the biggest hit film of her career. In point of fact, she had previously asked Chalamet to be in Barbie, but his busy schedule kept him from agreeing to do so.
In other words, this wasn’t a case of the actor being overlooked or snubbed in any way: Greta Gerwig went out of her way to get Timothee Chalamet involved. And while he really was too busy to join the film, all it took was one visit to the set for the actor to conclude that he had made a huge mistake by declining the offer. This likely has to do with what colorful and immersive sets the film had…we can only imagine it was difficult for him to visit Barbie’s world and not imagine what his role would have been like.
Interestingly, Timothee Chalamet isn’t alone in his regrets about what might have been. Recently, Barbie star Margot Robbie revealed that she wanted Gal Gadot to star in the film, but Gerwig knew from the beginning that Robbie was perfect for the role. Of course, the veteran director was right, but this left Gadot without a chance to headline a hit film, which likely stings after the brutal confirmation that she won’t be appearing in a third Wonder Woman film.
Other stars have joined Timothee Chalamet in expressing Barbie regret, including Dan Levy and Jonathan Groff.
For all his understandable regrets, Timothee Chalamet can’t feel too bad about missing out on Barbie. With the deserts of Dune, Part Two right around the corner, it will hopefully be enough (or should that be “Kenough?”) for the actor to headline the best science fiction franchise since Star Wars. If not, he may learn just how quickly the worm (especially the space worm) can turn in Hollywood.
