Ryan Gosling for Variety; He's Open to Performing at the Oscars
Ryan Gosling on Nearly Turning Down Ken, Singing Live at the Oscars and Wanting a 'Beach-Off' Over Those 'Barbie' Snubs https://t.co/FnvOFN9b7S
- Variety (@Variety) February 7, 2024
• Gosling initially turned down Ken due to scheduling conflicts and other things. Greta Gerwig only wanted him:
"Schedule things. Life things. And I would call months later to my agents or something and say, ‘Hey, who did they get to play Ken?’ And they would say, ‘Greta says it’s you.’”
• The interview takes place the day after the Oscar nominations and he's conflicted over Margot Robbie's alleged snub: “Look, I heavily edited that statement [addressing the snub]. I think if I say any more about it, I’m going to basically put on a mink and start challenging people to a beach-off on Malibu Beach.”
• When it's pointed out the idea that Ken getting invited to the Oscars, but not Barbie, could almost be a subplot from “Barbie,” Gosling sighs and stares straight ahead - he’s said all that he wants to about this subject.
• He's open to performing at the Oscars: "I still have not been asked. 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."
• His daughters killed Ken:
Ryan Gosling gives an update on his daughter’s Ken doll that was lying naked in the dirt next to a lemon who now wears a tuxedo.
“I asked my daughters, ‘What happened?’ They said, ‘Oh, he died of armpit arthritis. Ken’s dead!’ I was like, ‘Well, at least he’s face up & wearing… pic.twitter.com/IOxBmneIUN
- DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) February 7, 2024
• His two daughters, Esmeralda Amada, 9, and Amada Lee, 7, helped him learn the dance moves for “I’m Just Ken,” and his wife, the actress Eva Mendes, ran lines with him during the COVID lockdown.
• Once he agreed, he was all in: "I wanted to make sure if I was going to do it - I was like, ‘I can’t mess this up. I can’t be the guy that messed up the Barbie movie."
Does Ryan Gosling know his lines from his most famous movies? | Variety Know Their Lines https://t.co/6UKzogM6d0 pic.twitter.com/RBOrekEQ7e
- Variety (@Variety) February 7, 2024
• He has a fear of heights which came on when he was asked to do a photo on the Warner Bros. water tower.
• He still wanted to do it, though: “When I was very little, there was a show called ‘Animaniacs. And they lived at Warner Bros. in the water tower - that was like their clubhouse. I loved that show. And I think it planted some seed in my head. That’s what making movies was like: The lot was just your home, and you wander in and out of Western sets, and you can hang out in the water tower.”
Behind the scenes of Ryan Gosling's Variety cover shoot. https://t.co/6UKzogM6d0 pic.twitter.com/hfgOo9aGDs
- Variety (@Variety) February 7, 2024
• His uncle predicted Ryan would win an Oscar: "And I had never heard of them before.And it was even more random, because I wasn’t an actor. It just came out of nowhere. And he pulled out this big scrapbook that he’d bought, and he said, ‘I’m going to fill this with all your accomplishments until you do."
• He cites his uncle's confidence and his mom's determination as to why he continued as an actor. "Just hustling to figure it out, not knowing what it was. But honestly, it’s hard to overstate, when people believe in you."
• His wife Eva came up with the idea for Ken to do whatever he can to get Barbie's attention.
• The 1997 teen comedy Breaker High got him enough money to move to California, which he found transformative. "Thank God for West Hollywood...I had an amazing experience. I did my homework at the Abbey. My next-door neighbor was named Mocha Cream. It was an amazing place to land...Everyone was just so accepting and living their dreams. It was very supportive and creative."
• He lost out on a role in the Freddie Prinze Jr. film Summer Catch.
• His mom loves the swag rooms at film festivals.
• On his four year hiatus: "Just to be with my family. I didn’t want to miss anything. My priorities changed, and I wanted to be with my kids. It’s going super fast. I hear the clock ticking. I don’t know how much time I’m going to get, and I don’t want to spend it in the wrong place. I know I’m not spending it in the wrong place if I’m with my family."
• Margot Robbie says she and Greta refused to take no from Ryan: “He absolutely passed. We just couldn’t let that happen. There was just no other version. Greta and I are both extremely determined and persistent people, otherwise this movie never would have happened. Every time he’s like, ‘I’m not doing this,’ we were like, ‘We are doing it, and it’s going to be fun."
• Ryan and Margot would send each other photos of what Ken's Instagram would look like. He sent her a cover of Muscle & Fitness magazine from the ’90s, she sent him a picture of actor Michael Beck from “Xanadu.”
• Ryan watches a lot of reality television.
Ryan Gosling on preparing to play Ken in #Barbie: "I just Kenned as hard as I could." https://t.co/RlloQ87Jg9 pic.twitter.com/qXBqPJ8riv
- Variety (@Variety) February 7, 2024
• To maintain Ken’s washboard abs, Gosling worked out four hours a day, attended dance classes and restricted his diet. “It was basically nothing,” Gosling says. “It was just, like, coffee.”
Margot laughs when she hears this. “I saw him at the Thai truck a couple of times,” she says about lunch on the “Barbie” set. “Don’t feel too sorry for him."
• Gosling decided to bleach his hair at the last minute, after a wig didn’t look right. “I had this almost Redford wig, they called it,” he says. “I looked at the screen test, and I thought it wasn’t Ken. I looked like I worked at Shutters or something.” He found unlikely inspiration in Jennifer Jason Leigh. “I thought, ‘Ken is “Single White Female”-ing Barbie.’"
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Ryan Gosling tries to remember his lines. https://t.co/RlloQ88h5H pic.twitter.com/wSQKOAbmDh
- Variety (@Variety) February 7, 2024
Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6