During a recent interview with Variety, Oscar winner Helen Mirren, who was the narrator in Greta Gerwig’s hit Barbie movie, revealed that she actually filmed a scene with The Crown’s Olivia Colman. The sequence ultimately didn’t make the final theatrical cut of the Margot Robbie-led fantasy comedy.
According to Mirren, the deleted Barbie scene would have featured her and Colman fighting for the role of the Narrator. Apart from the cut Olivia Colman scene, there was also another deleted scene, which would have shown Mirren appearing onscreen with Emerald Fennell‘s Midge.
“It was a very funny scene with Olivia Colman sort of playing drunk and us clashing about who is the real grande dame of British actresses,” Mirren shared. “She comes in and tries to take over the role of the Narrator and I had to fight her off.”
Barbie Receives Multiple Oscar Nominations
After winning two Golden Globe awards last month, Barbie earned eight major nominations for the upcoming 2024 Academy Awards, which will take place on March. These include Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Song, Best Costume Design and Bes Production Design. Despite this achievement, a lot of fans were dismayed that Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie weren’t recognized for the Best Director and Best Actress categories, respectively.
Barbie was directed by Gerwig from a screenplay she co-wrote with Noah Baumbach. It was produced by Robbie and Tom Ackerly for LuckyChap and Mattel Films’ Robbie Brenner along with Josey McNamara and Ynon Kreiz. The film starred Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Scott Evans, Kate McKinnon, Ariana Greenblatt, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Mackey, Issa Rae, Michael Cera, Hari Nef, Will Ferrell, Helen Mirren, Dua Lipa, and more.
The film is available for streaming on Max.