Ryan Gosling can sometimes seem like a bit of an enigma – but he has certainly come out swinging when questioned whether he’s too old to play Ken in Greta Gerwig’s upcoming blockbuster Barbie, alongside Margot Robbie.
In an interview with British GQ, he responded defensively to criticisms of him playing the doll in his 40s.
‘I would say, you know, if people don’t want to play with my Ken, there are many other Kens to play with,’ he said, adding that he was partially inspired after spotting his daughters playing with Ken dolls.
‘I did see him, like, face down in the mud outside one day, next to a squished lemon,' he explained, ‘and it was like, “this guy’s story does need to be told, you know?”’
But then, after reflecting on the question, he went in on the fact that fans had probably never considered Ken that closely before, and the importance of his story being told.
One thing’s for sure, Ryan may be 42, but he’s super passionate about Ken and making sure the character gets his time to shine.
‘It is funny,' he said, 'this kind of clutching-your-pearls idea of, like, #notmyken. Like you ever thought about Ken before this?' As he said earlier, this is a guy whose job is beach.
‘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**ked 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.’
Basically, Ryan Gosling is Ken’s biggest cheerleader. ‘I care about this dude now,’ he explained. ‘I’m like his representative. Ken couldn’t show up to receive this award, so I’m here to accept it for him.’
He previously opened up about doubting himself in the Barbie role at a panel discussion at CinemaCon in Las Vegas last April.
‘If I’m being really honest, I doubted my Ken-ergy. I didn’t see it. Margot [Robbie] and Greta [Gerwig], I feel like they conjured this out of me somewhere,’ he said.
And just when we thought we couldn’t get enough of Ryan Gosling’s vibes, his friend and fellow actor John Stamos described Ryan as a ‘Disney adult’ on Keke Palmer’s podcast Baby, This Is Keke Palmer.
John described a conversation he had with Ryan over dinner: ‘He’s like, “You’re a Disney fan, aren’t you?”’ he recalled. ‘I say “yeah”. He goes, “I’m obsessed. I’m a Disney adult. I go there by myself. I wear headphones. I go on rides. I have a mixtape.”’
We’re obsessed with this energy, whether it's Ken-ergy or not.