Why Dan Levy Says He Had to Turn Down Ken Role in ‘Barbie’

Meghan Roos
·2 min read
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Dan Levy attends the Los Angeles Premiere of Netflix's "Good Grief" at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood on Dec. 19, 2023, in Los Angeles, Calif.

Dan Levy said it was a “tough day” when he had to turn down an opportunity to take on one of the Ken roles in Greta Gerwig’s 2023 film Barbie.

The Schitt’s Creek star's decision had to do with scheduling, Levy revealed during a recent interview with People. He “could not make it work” despite “desperately” trying to iron out the filming logistics. He added that it “sometimes” haunts him to know he missed out on the chance to be part of one of the biggest movies of 2023.

Released last summer, Barbie became a cultural phenomenon as it rose to be 2023’s top-grossing movie at the domestic box office and raked in more than $1 billion worldwide. Ryan Gosling stars opposite Margot Robbie as the main Ken in Barbie, but several other Kens and Barbies populate “Barbieland.” Simu Liu portrays Gosling’s main rival in the film, with Kingsley Ben-Adir, Ncuti Gatwa, Scott Evans and John Cena also in the mix as other Kens.

While reflecting on the film’s colorful and creative world, Levy also expressed regret that he couldn't work on the film with Gerwig, whom he admires. “I would have loved to play in her world,” he said of the Oscar-nominated director during his conversation with People.

Levy also spoke about the missed opportunity on Friday, Jan. 12, during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

“It was the pandemic, and I was working on something else,” Levy told host Jimmy Fallon when asked why he was rumored to be one of the film’s potential Kens. “It was like three or four days that we couldn’t make work.”

Levy starred as David Rose alongside his father, Eugene Levy, in the sitcom Schitt’s Creek for the show’s entire six-season run. He most recently appeared in the 2023 Netflix movie Good Grief, a film about the death of a partner that he also wrote and directed.

Next: Is ‘Schitt’s Creek’ Finally Getting a Reboot or Movie?