‘Barbie’ all-star players are early frontrunners for SAG ensemble award

The trailer for “Barbie” has sparked a flurry of excitement for the increasingly-intriguing movie from Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach. The movie is generating a lot of buzz ahead of its July 21 release later this year (the same day as Christopher Nolan‘s “Oppenheimer”) although little is known of it in the way of plot. The official IMDB synopsis reads: “To live in Barbie Land is to be a perfect being in a perfect place. Unless you have a full-on existential crisis. Or you’re a Ken.”

What we do know, however, is how astounding the cast is. Margot Robbie leads the line as Barbie while Ryan Gosling stars opposite her as Ken. Then, there are plenty of other variations of Barbies and Kens. Here’s a run down.

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“Saturday Night Live” star Kate McKinnon plays Weird Barbie, “Insecure” actress Issa Rae plays President Barbie, former Storm actor in the “X-Men” franchise Alexandra Shipp will play Writer Barbie, “Sex Education” star and Margot Robbie-look-alike Emma Mackey plays Physicist Barbie, singer Dua Lipa will play Mermaid Barbie, and “Bridgerton” actress Nicola Coughlan will play Diplomat Barbie. Plus, Ritu Arya plays Journalist Barbie, Ana Cruz Kayne plays Judge Barbie, Sharon Rooney plays Lawyer Barbie, and Hari Nef plays Doctor Barbie.

And on the Ken side of things, we have four main actors playing the male doll. “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” star Simu Liu features most prominently in the trailer as another Ken, who seems to be a rival to Gosling’s Ken, while “Sex Education” actor and the new Doctor Who Ncuti Gatwa also plays a Ken. “Grace and Frankie” actor Scott Evans, who is the younger brother of Chris Evans, will also play a Ken and so, too, will Kinglsey Ben-Adir, who played Malcolm X in Regina King’s “One Night in Miami…”

The all-star cast doesn’t stop there, however. Will Ferrell will play the toy company CEO while “Fleabag” alum Jamie Demetriou will play a toy company employee and Connor Swindells, yet another “Sex Education” actor, will is a toy company intern. Emerald Fennell will play a character called Midge, who is based on another Mattel toy doll; Michael Cera is a doll named Allan; and, as if we didn’t need more gravitas in the cast, Oscar-winner (“The Queen”) Helen Mirren will serve as the narrator.  Additionally, Rhea Perlman, John Cena, America Ferrera, Ariana Greenblatt, and Marisa Abela are in undisclosed roles.

All of these names make for one of the most stacked casts we’ve seen in a long time. “Barbie” is clearly a contender for Best Ensemble at next year’s Screen Actors’ Guild awards. It remains to be seen which of these actors will officially be included in their submission to SAG, but it will be a lot. Last year, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” won with seven actors named (Jamie Lee Curtis, James Hong, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, Harry Shum Jr., Jenny Slate, Michelle Yeoh) while the year before that, CODA won with six actors named (Eugenio Derbez, Daniel Durant, Emilia Jones, Troy Kotsur, Marlee Matlin, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo). Both went on to win Best Picture.

In the last 10 years, the film with the most amount of names actors that have won Best Ensemble at SAG was “Argo,” which won in 2013 with 13 named actors (Ben Affleck, Alan Arkin, Kerry Bishé, Kyle Chandler, Rory Cochrane, Bryan Cranston, Christopher Denham, Tate Donovan, Clea DuVall, Victor Garber, John Goodman, Scoot McNairy, Chris Messina). “CODA”‘s six is the least amount of actors a winning film has had.

“Barbie” will certainly compete with “Argo” with that high amount of actors if the movie eventually lands a bid. At this incredibly early stage, the colorful movie looks like an ideal choice for SAG for its ensemble with Robbie and Gosling leading the line and a host of acclaimed actors and A-list stars behind them. Currently, their closest rivals would be the aforementioned Nolan movie “Oppenheimer,” which stars Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr, Gary Oldman, Florence Pugh, Rami Malek, Matthew Modine, Kenneth Branagh, Alden Ehrenreich and Dane DeHaan,.

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