Ryan Gosling reveals inspiration for Ken role in new Barbie movie

Jul 19, 2023

It might be a Barbie world this summer, but Ryan Gosling is opening up about his surprising inspiration for wanting to tackle the role of Ken, Barbie's perennial love interest, in the doll's much-anticipated upcoming feature adaptation.

In a cover story for GQ's Global Summer issue, Gosling admits he was counter-intuitively drawn to the role because of Ken's blandness as a character. "Ken," Gosling explains, "his job is beach. For 60 years, his job has been beach. What the f— does that even mean?"

Gosling later elaborated, "And everyone was fine with that, for him to have a job that is nothing. But suddenly, it's like, ‘No, we’ve cared about Ken this whole time.’ No, you didn't. You never did. You never cared. Barbie never f—-d with Ken. That's the point. If you ever really cared about Ken, you would know that nobody cared about Ken. So your hypocrisy is exposed. This is why his story must be told."

Gosling offered a bit of personal inspiration for taking on the role as well. He admits he found his daughters' Ken doll "face down in the mud outside one day, next to a squished lemon" which was all the convincing Gosling need. "It was like, This guy's story does need to be told, you know?"

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Gosling turned slightly more serious late in the interview to admit "I care about this dude now. I’m like his representative. ‘Ken couldn't show up to receive this award, so I’m here to accept it for him.'"

Andrew Korpan · 4 days ago

Andrew Korpan · 4 days ago

RJ Ruotolo · 6 days ago

Time will tell if the Barbie movie, and Ryan Gosling's performance as Ken, is worth all the pre-release buzz or if it belongs in the mud next to a squished lemon.