Have you ever pondered the mystery of Chris Taylor’s casting in the summer blockbuster Barbie?
Fans were shocked to learn Chris, who participated on the ITV programme in 2019 and dated Maura Higgins for six months in 2020 before they broke up in May 2021, was in the Greta Gerwig movie.
The 32-year-old actor landed the cameo role after having a “beautiful” talk with 33-year-old actress Margot Robbie about, um, genitalia.
You read that correctly.
Chris said he and his fellow castaways were invited to a premiere and afterparty by Love Island superfan Margot, who “actually came over and gave me a hug and knew my name, it was pretty bizarre.”
Chris introduced himself to the Babylon actress, gushing that she was “the loveliest person I’ve probably ever met,” before starting a talk about penises, which had come up in conversation with another guest.
He told OK Magazine: ‘So I basically went down the route of telling her about my mate who’s got a micropenis.
‘So I informed her of that, and we had a little chat about micropenises, which was lovely and quite funny.
‘And then I went on to tell her about my dad’s mate whose balls are so big, he can carry 12 bottles of Budweiser on his ball sack like a tray.’
Following that, Warner Bros. contacted him and asked him to audition for Barbie, and the rest, as they say, is history.
‘So I basically just pulled out the big guns, I thought I’ve got to make an impression and that’s what came out of my mouth… unfortunately.’
So there you have it.
Chris’ sequence comes in the middle of the film, and he was on set with Ryan Gosling, Ncuti Gatwa, and Ben Kingsley, who all portray different incarnations of Ken.
He hailed incoming Doctor Who star Ncuti as ‘the loveliest guy’ he’s ever met, and he helped him feel ‘comfortable’ during filming’.
Chris added to Cosmopolitan UK: ‘I met him when I did my fitting and I was really surprised he knew who I was. He’d watched Love Island and said really nice things, including that I should have won.
‘He was just super easy to get on with, made me feel really at home and comfortable, because he knew I’m not an actor and was going to be nervous, so he came over and spoke to me a few times.’
Chris isn’t the only Love Island star who auditioned for the film; Tasha Ghouri recently stated that she was in the running for a role as a dancer in the film but didn’t make the cut.
‘Filming was at the same time as Love Island so everything does happen for a reason,’ she told OK! magazine.
Love Island airs on Sunday from 9pm on ITV2.
