Michael Cera reveals Ben Affleck's planned “Barbie” fight scene was cut, he 'almost died' filling in for him

"They're like, 'Okay, Ben is out. Something has to happen here, so you're gonna fight them.'"

"Ken Affleck" certainly has a nice ring to it — but it just wasn't meant to be.

Barbie star Michael Cera has shared a fun tidbit from Barbie Land: Ben Affleck was supposed to have a cameo in the celeb-studded flick.

The revelation — or Kenelation — came during a recent Q&A for the Happy Sad Confused podcast after host Josh Horowitz brought up the fight sequence Cera's character Allan has with the construction Kens.

"I wasn't even supposed to fight in the movie," Cera said. "Am I allowed to say what was supposed to be? It was supposed to be Ben Affleck. Am I allowed to say that?"

Cera went on to reveal that Affleck had to drop out due to his commitment to last year's sports drama Air, in which he also starred. "I think Ben wanted to do it, but he was directing his movie, but they didn't find that out until the 11th hour."

"They're like, 'Okay, Ben is out. Something has to happen here, so you're gonna fight them,'" Cera recalled, adding that it was a harrowing ordeal for him to learn the stunts while he was recovering from COVID. "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."

Cera didn't specify which role Affleck had been tapped for, but he would have rounded out a big-name cast that includes Margot Robbie, America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Ryan Gosling, Will Ferrell, Rhea Perlman, and Helen Mirren, among others. He isn't the only A-lister who had to bow out of the Oscar-nominated film: Timothée Chalamet, Saoirse Ronan, Dan Levy, and Bowen Yang were among the stars up for Ken and Barbie roles, and Jonathan Groff was originally considered for the part of Allan before it went to CeraVe icon Cera.

Watch the rest of Cera's interview — which also included his costars Ferrera, McKinnon, and Gosling — in the clip above.

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