Ryan Gosling might have become synonymous with Barbie’s Ken, but his initial reaction to the role was not of much enthusiasm.
The 45-year-old actor revealed that he was contemplating the role for the longest time before joining Greta Gerwig for the 2023 live-action.
The Blade Runner 2049 star named Barbie as the one project which proved to be transformative despite being unsure of joining it beforehand, during a recent interview with Fuera de Foco.
Gosling explained that his daughters, who he shares with Eva Mendes, actually inspired him to take on the role.
“I could see how much playing with Barbies was doing for my kids, you know, because they were able to act out stuff that was going in a larger world with their dolls, so it ended up being a way to process the world. And I think that’s what Greta was doing in the script. She was trying to take some of these larger ideas and use dolls to tell the story. And I just thought there was such an interesting marriage there,” said the La La Land actor.
Gosling added that he learnt Ken was a “hard” and different project for him but he took it on as a “good challenge” and despite his initial apprehensions, was able to bring the character to life.
His song I’m Just Ken from the movie took on a life of its own and Gosling had a special performance at the Oscars at the time.
