Amy Schumer Reacts to Barbie Movie After Dropping Out of Earlier Version

It looks like Barbie has a friend in Amy Schumer.

Days after the Barbie movie hit theaters, the comedian—who was set to play the titular role in an earlier version—shared her thoughts on the film as well as on its fellow box office hit Oppenheimer. And overall, it looks like she's a #Barbenheimer fan. 

"Really enjoyed Barbie and Oppenheimer," Schumer wrote on Instagram July 24 before joking about the casting in Christopher Nolan's new picture, "but I think I should have played Emily Blunt's role. Do better Hollywood." 

The Inside Amy Schumer star's review may not come as a surprise to fans as she'd previously expressed her excitement to see Barbie.

"I can't wait to see the movie," she said on a June episode of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen. "I think it looks awesome."

Schumer was cast as Barbie in 2016 for Mattel and Sony Pictures' rendition of the live-action film. But just a few months later in 2017, the actress announced that she was parting ways with the project due to "scheduling conflicts."

"The film has so much promise, and Sony and Mattel have been great partners," she said in a statement obtained by E! News at the time. "I'm bummed, but look forward to seeing Barbie on the big screen."

As time went on, Schumer explained more of what led to her exit.

"They definitely didn't want to do it the way I wanted to do it," she told The Hollywood Reporter last year, "the only way I was interested in doing it."

According to the outlet, Schumer and her sister Kim Caramele had written Barbie as an inventor in the film's script, but the original studio had requested that her invention be a high heel made of Jell-O and gifted Schumer a pair of Manolo Blahniks to celebrate.

"The idea that that's just what every woman must want," the I Feel Pretty alum said, "right there, I should have gone, ‘You've got the wrong gal.'"

Fast-forward to 2019 and Mattel and Warner Bros. Pictures Group revealed that Margot Robbie would play Barbie. Greta Gerwig was also later brought on to direct, and she wrote the screenplay with Noah Baumbach.

During Schumer's recent appearance on Watch What Happens Live, she reiterated that she dropped out of the original Barbie film due to "creative differences."

"But there's a new team behind and it looks like it's very feminist and cool," she said, "So, I will be seeing that movie."

Read on to discover more secrets behind the Barbie movie.

Margot Robbie, who stars as Barbie and also produced the film, admitted in an interview that she always wanted Ryan Gosling to be her Ken. She said he was written into the script—as the character "Ken Ryan Gosling"—and joked, "We pretty much wouldn't take no for an answer."

"We just kept bothering you," writer/director Greta Gerwig admitted to Ryan in an SXM interview. "Margot was like, 'Is it weird if I go to his house?' I was like, 'Don't go to his house. We're just gonna stay put.' Send a follow-up text." As Margot teased, "I would see a sea of blue on my phone."

Ryan revealed that Margot gave him daily gifts inspired by his character Beach Ken. 

"She left a pink present with a pink bow, from Barbie to Ken, every day while we were filming," Ryan told Vogue. "They were all beach-related. Like puka shells, or a sign that says 'Pray for surf.'" He said that he's "never quite figured out" what Ken's job as "Beach" means, "But I felt like she was trying to help Ken understand, through these gifts that she was giving."

Amy Schumer explained the real reason she dropped out of the Barbie movie.

"I think we said it was scheduling conflict, that's what we said," she said on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen in June 2023. "But yeah, it really was just, like, creative differences. But you know what? There's like a new team behind it, and it looks like it's very feminist and cool. So, I will be seeing that movie."

"It was a happy accident," John Cena told Today of his casting as a Mermaid Ken. He said he "kind of" pitched himself to join the film "in an accidental run-in with Margot Robbie." John told her, "I would do, pretty much, whatever you guys need 'cause I really enjoy the movie and they asked me if I wanted to be a merman."

Casting director Allison Jones revealed Saturday Night Live star Bowen Yang, Schitt's Creek actor Dan Levy and Dear Evan Hansen actor Ben Platt almost played Kens in the movie but weren't able to make it work. She added, "They were, I'm not kidding, really bummed they couldn't do it."

According to the casting director, before Michael Cera came on board as Ken's buddy Allan, it almost went to a certain Frozen actor.

"Dear, dear Jonathan Groff was like, ‘I can't believe I'm typing this," Allison Jones told Vanity Fair, "but I can't do Allan."

The Barbie actresses revealed they had a cast sleepover at the London hotel Claridge's to get close. "We all shared beds and wore our pajamas, and ordered room service," Margot shared on The Kelly Clarkson Show, "and played games, and found out that America [Ferrera] is exceptionally competitive."

America had her own tea to spill about the evening. "Nobody told me that it was a sexy Barbie sleepover," she quipped. "So everybody was in like really pretty silky nightgowns, and I was in like the most grandma floral twin set you can imagine."

As for the Kens? "Greta was very deliberate in what she wanted the Kens to do to bond," Simu Liu exclusively told E! News, "which was to gym together."

The French version of Barbie's poster went viral after social media users pointed out the double entendre of the translation. "She can do everything. He's just Ken," the English tagline goes, which was translated to, "Elle peut tout faire. Lui, c'est juste Ken."

However, fans went wild after pointing out that "ken" has a slang meaning in French as "f--k" and would translate to, "He can only f--k." Bonjour, Ken!

Though Nicola Coughlan only appeared for a few moments in the film, it was very important to her to experience life in plastic.

"I auditioned for Barbie back in January 22 when I was on holiday with friends," she wrote on Instagram. "I'd packed one random hot pink dress I hadn't worn at all and when I had to make my audition tape I thought- this is fate, I have a dress in Barbie Pink!"

Admitting she's "obsessed" with Greta Gerwig, the Bridgerton star said that "the prospect of working with her was something I couldn't even have imagined." 

"When I found out she wanted to have me be part of @barbiethemovie, and then that I probably wouldn't be able to make it work because of my schedule I was firstly elated and quickly heartbroken," Nicola continued. "So when I was asked if I wanted to pop into Barbieland even briefly my answer was an immediate, and very emphatic yes."