It seems that one of the stars of the upcoming Barbie movie has skin as thick as plastic.
Ryan Gosling ha told GQ that he nabbed his breakout role in 2004’s The Notebook for a hilariously uncomplimentary reason.
The Oscar nominee claimed that the film’s director, Nick Cassavetes, “straight up told me: ‘The fact that you have no natural leading man qualities is why I want you to be my leading man’”.
This wasn’t the first time that Ryan – who was rumoured to have turned down People’s Sexiest Man Alive title in the past – has said he was cast in a movie because he didn’t look the part.
He previously revealed that he was cast as a Jewish man who becomes a Neo-Nazi in 2001’s The Believer for similar reasons.
“The fact that I wasn’t really right for it was exactly why [director Henry Bean] thought I was right for it,” the La La Land star pointed out.
This may also explain why Ryan doesn’t seem that bothered by news stories regarding some fans’ disapproval of his casting in the upcoming Barbie movie because the 42-year-old actor looks “too old” to play Ken.
He said: “If people don’t want to play with my Ken, there are many other Kens to play with,” alluding to the fact that Mattel — the company behind the Barbie brand — has long sold various types of Kens, and in the movie, actors John Cena, Simu Liu, Scott Evans, Ncuti Gatwa and Kingsley Ben-Adir also appear in the film as different versions of the eponymous doll.
Ryan also noted Barbie is the focus of the brand, and that most people “never cared” about Ken until now.
“It is funny,” Ryan said about the criticism surrounding him playing Ken. “This kind of clutching-your-pearls idea of, like, #notmyken. Like you ever thought about Ken before this?”