After the initial rage over Barbie’s snubs and nominations for the 2024 Oscars (depending on whether you’re a fan or not), Ryan Gosling is continuing his campaign for his run as Best Supporting Actor. In an interview with Variety, the actor opened for the first time about his process of becoming Ken… And, surprisingly, it involved “The Bachelorette.”
One of the key points of the film is when Ken, after visiting the real world, brings the patriarchy to Barbieland and he changes his whole style. The “villain” Ken was characterized for his mink, inspired by ‘80s Silvester Stallone. But the idea also came from how “The Bachelorette” tends to divide the guys through a single characteristic.
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“As long as Ken was wearing it, he was the Ken with the mink — and that separated him from the other Kens,” he told Variety. “Some of it also came from ‘The Bachelorette […] One guy’s the guy that wears glasses. One guy has the one earring. If you were to challenge and do the same thing as that person, you’d be infringing on their identity, and so Ken’s identity became the mink.”
Gosling compares Barbieland to The Bachelorette mansion
After that confession, Ramin Setoodeh asked him if he actually watches the show. “Oh yeah. I watch a lot of reality TV. A lot,” he confessed, before comparing Barbieland to the famous ABC’s reality TV mansion.
Simu Liu, Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling in ‘Barbie’ (2023) (IMDb)
“It’s not dissimilar, in the sense that they sit around idly waiting for the Bachelorette to acknowledge them. And, yes, they have no attention outside of the attention she gives them,” the actor says.
Will Ryan Gosling sing ‘I’m Just Ken’ at the Oscars?
In the same interview, Gosling also addressed the possibility of singing “I’m Just Ken,” which competes for Best Original Song, at the Academy Awards (set to air on March 10th). The actor revealed he hasn’t been asked to perform it yet.
“It might be too much of a risk to have me do it. I don’t know how that would work. But I’m open to it,” he added. Meanwhile, Robbie told the publication that they (Barbie’s team) are “poking Ryan whenever we can: ‘Do it. Come on. It’ll be fun.’’’
Barbie is streaming on Max.
