Chris Taylor reveals how an afterparty with Margot Robbie led to his role in Barbie
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Yes, it's really happening. One of the most iconic Islanders from Love Island season five, Chris Taylor, has a cameo in the upcoming Barbie film. And no, he can't believe it either.
Speaking to Cosmopolitan UK ahead of Barbie's release this week (21st July), Chris revealed how an afterparty he nearly didn't attend led to him being cast in Barbie. Chris revealed he was introduced to Margot at a Birds of Prey party in 2020, after his housemates and fellow Islanders Michael Griffiths and Jordan Hames met Margot at the premiere.
"The lads had gone to the Birds of Prey premiere, and they came back saying how they'd met Margot on the red carpet, and Margot was gassed to see them," Chris said. "We were sat around talking about it when someone got a message saying Margot wanted us all to come to the afterparty. I was actually in bed, but I said I'd come as how often do you get to met Margot Robbie?"
It was incredibly fortunate Chris did attend, and the subsequent after-afterparty at Margot's hotel with a smaller group of guests, as it led to him having some long chats with Margot about his own life and family and friends.
"She's just really down to earth and cool. She's one of the nicest people I've ever met," Chris said.
Chris clearly made an impression, as a year and a half later he got an email from Warner Brothers asking him to audition for a role in Barbie. He ended up getting it, and six months later found himself at Warner Brothers studio for costume fittings.
"I was fully convinced it was a prank," Chris said. "These YouTubers, they're clever, they'll write full on contracts and do the prank video. But I pulled up at Warner Brothers and saw Ryan Gosling walked past my car and I thought 'this definitely isn't a prank'."
Chris appears in one scene towards the middle of the movie, and on his day of filming, he found himself on set alongside Ryan Gosling, Ncuti Gatwa and Ben Kingsley, who all play different versions of Ken.
"Ncuti Gatwa is the loveliest guy I've ever met in my life," Chris said of his co-star. "I met him when I did my fitting and I was really surprised he knew who I was. He'd watched Love Island and said really nice things, including that I should have won.
"He was just super easy to get on with, made me feel really at home and comfortable, because he knew I'm not an actor and was going to be nervous, so he came over and spoke to me a few times."
Chris practiced his one scene for weeks, and had help from a dialect coach to help him perfect his American accent. Despite filming his scene over a year ago, Chris only found out on the premiere day last week (12th July) that his scene had made the cut, and described seeing himself on screen as part of the film as an "out of body experience".
It appears he needed to have no worries about getting cut as he explained he ran into Margot Robbie's husband, Tom Ackerley, who was a producer on the film at the premiere, who said Margot was insistent on getting Chris in the film.
Chris confirmed the news of his cameo appearance on his Instagram last week, posting pictures of the premiere and captioning the post: "This WILL sound made up…but I’m in the ACTUAL Barbie Film 🤯 No bloody idea how, but here we are…I’m an actual Ken (I talk a lot of sh**e so swipe for evidence 😂)."
He went onto thank a mystery individual who he called a "glorious ray of human sunshine" for making his cameo happen. Three guesses for who this could be? Yep, Chris confirmed to Cosmopolitan UK he was thanking Margot for getting him into the film.
"I know she's got a secret account that follows Love Islanders, so hopefully she would have seen that," he said. "I saw her on the red carpet and I got to say a quick thank you, but I didn't really get a chance to see her after that. So I was basically saying thank you."
You can see Chris' iconic cameo later this week when Barbie finally arrives in cinemas later this week (not that we've been counting down or anything).
Barbie arrives in cinemas on 21st July
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