It turns out Ryan Gosling is entirely responsible for one of Ken’s most defining features in the upcoming Barbie film.
Last year, first-look snaps of the actor in character as Ken went viral online, as Ryan showed off ice blond hair, a double-denim outfit and some Ken-branded underwear.
Well, it seems Ryan had a lot of input into the look, as the movie’s costume designer Jacqueline Durran has revealed the actor actually came up with the idea for Ken’s undies himself.
“We just rushed to make it,” Jacqueline said in a behind-the-scenes piece for Vogue.
“Retro sportswear is one area where we did a lot of shopping for Ken,” she continued. “He is sporty. That’s his main thing. We had buyers in America that went to dealers and imported it for us because we needed so much of it.”
She also discussed some of Ken’s key looks, revealing that while fans can look forward to a lot of colourful ’80s sportswear, disco boilersuits and some hyper-masculine cowboy looks in the film, Ken still had far fewer options than Barbie, who is played by Margot Robbie.
Jacqueline added: “No one cares about Ken, everybody just wants to play with Barbie. He matches Barbie and changes too but he has very, very, many less options.”
It was previously revealed that Ken’s custom pants were quite the hit with Ryan’s wife Eva Mendes after she first saw them in the on-set pictures.
In an appearance on US TV show The Talk last year, she said: “When I saw it, he sent it to me from work and I said, ‘Can I please have that underwear? Please.’ I never ask for anything.’”
“So, anyways, I do have it. I’m wearing it right now,” Eva joked.
Ryan recently defended his casting as Ken in the film, which is directed by Greta Gerwig.
He told British GQ earlier this month: “I would say if people don’t want to play with my Ken, there are many other Kens to play with.
“It is funny… this kind of clutching-your-pearls idea of, like, #notmyken.
“Like you ever thought about Ken before this? 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***** 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.”
Ncuti Gatwa, Simu Liu and Scott Evans will all play alternative Kens in the film, while Issa Rae, Kate McKinnon, Nicola Couhglan and Hari Nef will be seen as different variations of Barbie.
Barbie is set for release on 21 July 2023.