Anyone who saw Magic Mike knows Matt Bomer has all the Kenergy needed to play Barbie’s boyfriend, but the actor turned down a role in the billion-dollar blockbuster.
Bomer, 46, revealed that he auditioned for several of the Ken roles in the film. “I recorded it on my own, played a bunch of different Kens — and I dressed differently for all of them,” Bomer told Vanity Fair in a profile published on Tuesday, November 21. “I recorded the lines of the other person’s dialogue on my recorder and then gave myself space to respond.”
He spoke with director Greta Gerwig about joining the Margot Robbie-led film, but it was the filming schedule in London that ultimately made him walk away from the movie. He didn’t want to spend so much time away from his family.
Barbie was in production amid COVID-19 restrictions, so there was no flying back-and-forth across the pond. That was a dealbreaker for the father of three. Bomer and husband Simon Halls, who tied the knot in 2011, welcomed son Kit in 2005 and twins Walker and Henry in 2008.
Though Bomer never got the chance to play an official Ken, he did play a stripper named Ken who had an impressive doll-inspired dance routine in Magic Mike (2012), Magic Mike XXL (2015) and Magic Mike’s Last Dance (2023).
Bomer isn’t the only one who turned down the movie. The logistics of spending three months in London forced Bowen Yang, Dan Levy, Ben Platt and Jonathan Groff to walk away from roles as Kens or Allan, casting director Allison Jones revealed to VF in July.
“They were, I’m not kidding, really bummed they couldn’t do it,” Jones said. “Dear, dear Jonathan Groff was like, ‘I can’t believe I’m typing this, but I can’t do Allan.'”
Ultimately, Michael Cera played Allan while Ryan Gosling, Simu Liu and Ncuti Gatwa were among the various actors playing different Kens
Bomer, meanwhile, currently stars in and executive produces the Showtime series Fellow Travelers, airing Sundays at 9 p.m. ET. The drama follows two political staffers (Bomer and Jonathan Bailey) as they fall in love in the 1950s. Bomer also plays a supporting role in the Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro, an Oscar frontrunner, as Bernstein’s (Bradley Cooper) lover.
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There’s no shortage of roles for Bomer, and he might even return as one of his fan favorite characters, White Collar‘s Neal Caffrey.
“There has been [revival] talk. It’s actually very legitimate talk, it’s in conversation,” the actor told TVLine earlier this month. “A lot of things need to fall into place, but there is a plan in effect, at least, so we’ll see what happens.”
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