Allan may have been the one true combatant in the official cut of Barbie, but if the film had kept all of its deleted scenes, Greta Gerwig’s Oscar-nominated sensation would have also been the site of one of the greatest matchups in cinema history.
Forget Barbenheimer: The real cage match of the summer was between Helen Mirren, the narrator of Barbie, and Olivia Colman, the challenger for the position.
Speaking recently to Variety, Mirren reminisced on the exact sort of scene that Gerwig would dream up, wherein Mirren and Colman decide once and for all who the “grande dame” of British actresses is. The spoils of war? The privilege of narrating Barbie.
“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. She comes in and tries to take over the role of the Narrator and I had to fight her off.”
It’s no difficult task to assume why the scene got cut, but that doesn’t mean we don’t miss it. Who wouldn’t want to see these two Academy Award winners duke it out? This kind of Goliath v. Goliath event doesn’t just happen every day.
And just think of the extra marketing possibilities that could have been: “Queen Elizabeth II v. Queen Elizabeth II,” “Queenie Shaw v. Sonya Falsworth,” “Cara Dutton v. Chef Terry.” Before you know it, Barbie‘s fight club goes far beyond laying the smackdown on the stratification of society.
In any case, the next fight on Barbie‘s schedule is the Oscars, where the film will hopefully make good on its eight nominations and bring home plenty of statuettes. Of course, if we’re being frank, the rewards that Barbie has reaped already render this race just a tad bit moot, but good luck to it anyway.
(featured image: Warner Bros. Pictures)
