Toronto's Dan Levy explains why he turned down role in 'Barbie' movie

Simu Liu, Ryan Gosling, and Michael Cera weren't the only Canadians approached to star in the Barbie movie — turns out Dan Levy was offered a part, too.

The 40-year-old actor and filmmaker, who's best known for playing David Rose in the CBC-produced Schitt's Creek, told People that he was offered a role in Barbie, the 2023 box office hit that earned over US$1.38 billion worldwide.

Despite the opportunity to join the movie led by Margot Robbie and directed and co-written by Greta Gerwig, sadly, Levy revealed that he had to turn down the role.

His reason: scheduling conflict.

"Logistically could not make it work despite desperately trying to," he said. "So, yeah, I guess I was technically unavailable to do that."

And the FOMO is real, according to Levy.

"Does it haunt me when I sleep at night? Sometimes," he admitted. "It's not like it isn't like one of the biggest movies of all time. That was a tough, tough day."

He added that he's a big fan of Gerwig, stating, "I think Greta had such a like wonderfully bizarre and and magical aesthetic idea of of what that movie was. I would have loved to play in her world. I think she is one of the great, young auteurs of our time."

The Emmy Award-winning actor stars in the Netflix movie Good Grief, which he also wrote and directed. Levy plays an illustrator dealing with the death of his husband.