Michael Cera Had A ‘Jaws’ Homage In ‘Barbie’ That Didn’t Make The Final Cut

Here’s a wild statistic for you—as of this writing, “Barbie” is the 14th highest grossing film of all time. At $1.43 billion in global grosses, the film is Warner Bros.’ biggest film of all time and the absolute runaway hit of 2023. And it’s all thanks to Michael Cera’s Allan character. Well, that’s not really all that correct, even if he is this writer’s favorite part. If anything, the trio that probably earns the most credit are director Greta Gerwig and her two stars, Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. That said, Cera is one of the standouts in the ensemble cast, and apparently, one of his best scenes didn’t even make the movie.

In an interview with Variety, “Barbie” cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto talked about various scenes that were shot but didn’t make the final product. One of the scenes involves Cera’s Allan and is greatly inspired by the classic film, “Jaws.”

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“We did this shot on Allan that emulated ‘Jaws,’” Prieto explained. “He’s terrified [when] Ken hits a wave and then flies in the air. There’s a moment where the police officer sees someone being eaten in the water.”

He continued, “The camera does this push-in, it’s a move where you use a zoom and you’re dialing into the character while zooming back at the same time. The effect is that the background changes — the shot, and his performance, [were] very dramatic.”

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While the scene didn’t make it into the final cut of the movie, the cinematographer said that director Greta Gerwig “could not stop laughing when we shot it” and “kept asking the video assistant to replay it for her just to laugh.” 

It’s unclear why the scene was cut from the film. Honestly, when you’re dealing with such a massive film with a ton of moving parts and jokes all over the place, it’s not shocking that even really funny things don’t make the final cut.

Prieto thinks eventually a lot of the cut scenes will find their way to the public, as with the new IMAX release (which includes more scenes in the credits) and eventual home media release. So, perhaps there will be time to still see Michael Cera’s “Jaws” homage.