Ryan Gosling is ready to talk Barbie — and finally revealed why he accepted the role of Ken.
The actor made colossal waves when Warner Bros. released the first image of him as a bleach blond Ken in June. While many were intrigued by the live-action Greta Gerwig-directed Barbie movie, others were baffled as to what drew him to the project.
Ryan finally broke his silence on The Tonight Show on Thursday. The actor, who will play Ken opposite Margot Robbie’s Barbie, joked he accepted the role out of pity — and because even plastic hunks like Ken deserve representation.
“I was surprised how, you know, some people were kind of clutching their pearls about my Ken as though they ever thought about Ken for a second before this,” Ryan told host Jimmy Fallon. “They never played with Ken. Nobody plays with Ken, man.”
“He’s an accessory, and not even one of the cool ones,” he added.
Ryan did say the screenplay, written by Greta Gerwig and her writer-director partner Noah Baumbach, was the “best script I’ve ever read.” Gosling, who shares two daughters with actor Eva Mendes, nonetheless needed time to think about the role — but found his answer outside.
“I walk out in the backyard and you know where I found Ken, Jimmy?” Gosling said. “Face down in the mud next to a squished lemon.”
Ryan texted a photo of the abandoned doll to Greta to confirm he was ready to properly honour Ken.
“I shall be your Ken,” he wrote. “For his story must be told.”
Gosling has since cheekily attempted to singlehandedly usher in a “Kenaissance.” In a clip posted on Twitter by Good Morning America, he induced raucous studio-wide laughter by revealing a certain “Kenergy” was required to fill the doll’s shoes.
“It’s hard,” said Ryan. “A lot of people don’t know this, but George Lucas based The Force on Kenergy. It’s always been there. I can’t even get into it really. We don’t have the time. It’s a lot to be Ken, but we need to talk about Ken at some point.”