Michael Cera Missed Out On A ‘Barbie’ Group Chat Because He Only Has A Flip Phone

Michael Cera doesn’t have a smart phone, and good for him. Humanity did just fine without them for an awfully long time. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t miss out on some of the finer things the technology offers. For instance, when all the various Barbies and Kens in Greta Gerwig’s apparently controversial Barbie started a giant group chat, he wasn’t able to participate.

“I don’t have an iPhone myself. … I have a flip phone,” Cera told People in a new profile of the movie. “But I still think I wouldn’t belong on [the group chat] anyway, because [my character] Allan is sort of in his own little world.”

Cera didn’t leave empty-handed, though. “Greta’s gift for me when I arrived was a picture disc of NSYNC’s No Strings Attached,” he said, “which felt like somehow a real guiding light in the backstory of this character.”

Gerwig had an unusually chummy set, with her massive cast finding creative ways to bond. For instance, Simu Liu, who plays one of the Kens, says star Margot Robbie hosted a sleepover for the many fellow Barbies. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t co-ed. Liu said the “Kens were allowed to either visit briefly or to phone in and say hi.”

There were other ways the cast and crew made the set fun. “Margot had this pink day once a week, where everyone had to wear something pink. And if you didn’t, you were fined,” said Ryan Gosling, who plays the main Ken. “She would go around collecting the fines, and she would donate it to a charity.”

Barbie, which hits theaters on July 21, won’t be the last time toy brand Mattel gets into the movie business. A dark, brooding Barney movie is also in the works.