Eva Mendes has defended her husband Ryan Gosling’s transformation into Ken for the forthcoming Barbie movie, revealing she actually asked him to bring one item home from set.
Earlier this month, a first-look image of the actor in character as the famous doll in director Greta Gerwig’s live-action take on the iconic Mattel figure drew quite the reaction on social media.
It saw Ryan embodying the plastic hunk with bleached hair, fake tan and his muscles busting out of a denim ensemble.
In an appearance on US TV show The Talk this week, Eva addressed some of the chatter around Ryan’s appearance in the film, saying: “People do know he’s not playing a real person, right? He’s playing a fake person.”
She also spoke of her own reaction to seeing Ryan as Ken, admitting it took her back to her teenage years.
“First of all, I saw the photo and the 14-year-old in me was like, ‘Ahhh,’” she said. “But you know, it’s a funny photo and he’s trying to be funny. So it worked on all levels.”
Eva also said she managed to claim Ryan’s personalised Ken pants.
“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.
She was also shown images of Ryan’s transformation for The Gray Man, alongside his makeover for the Barbie movie and asked to choose one.
“Well, I’d definitely wanna spend my nights with The Gray Man and my days with Ken. That’s a party, because Ken’s fun. And The Gray Man…well, y’know,” she said.
Ryan will appear alongside Margot Robbie as Barbie in the film, which also stars Kate McKinnon, Alexandra Shipp, America Ferrera, Ncuti Gatwa, Simu Liu, Will Ferrell, Issa Rae and Hari Nef.
Last month, Simu Liu teased what fans might expect from the script, which an agent described as “one of the best” he had ever read.
“He literally said this verbatim,” he told GQ. “He was like, ‘If I could stake my career on any one script, it’s the Barbie script. I really think you should do it.’”
Barbie is set for release on 21 July 2023.