Lucy Boynton has revealed her Proust Barbie role was cut from Barbie because test audiences didn’t understand the reference.

The Bohemian Rhapsody actress appears briefly in a scene in Weird Barbie’s house during a gag about a failed line of dolls, including Proust Barbie, inspired by the French novelist Marcel Proust.

During an interview on SiriusXM’s The Spotlight with Jessica Shaw, Lucy revealed she was supposed to appear in more “little moments” throughout the film.

“Proust Barbie is only softly in the background of the Barbie film because in the test screenings, it turns out that contemporary audiences don’t know who Proust is, so the joke doesn’t quite land,” she explained. “(It’s) a little bit of a heartbreaker that we are kind of losing touch with that history, but hopefully, this will then be a trigger for people to read up on Marcel Proust. It was a shocker.”

The 30-year-old noted that the film’s director and co-writer Greta Gerwig called her to reveal that her screen time would be pared back.

“Will Ferrell at one point references it and (Greta’s) like, ‘There’s no reaction. They don’t know who Proust is,'” she said, referring to Ferrell’s Mattel CEO saying, “Remember Proust Barbie? That did not sell well.”

While she was reduced to a background role, Lucy had a great experience on the set.

“Being in the Weird Barbie house was surreal. That’s kind of why you immediately say yes to that opportunity, obviously to be in the environment with those brilliant brains, but yeah, to be on that set was wild,” she shared.

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