Most people are probably aware a Barbie movie is coming, but after attending Warner Bros.' CinemaCon panel and checking out some footage of the studio's upcoming 2023 releases, I have a much better grasp of the movie’s tone. A self-proclaimed Barbie movie for those who “hate Barbie,” we saw Margot Robbie’s titular character going on a journey into the “real world” accompanied by Ryan Gosling’s Ken. The two made for a great pair onscreen in the first Barbie trailer as well as in new footage CinemaBlend saw today, but things could have played out very differently.
Greta Gerwig said on Tuesday that she had written the Ken character with the actor in mind – though she didn’t know him at the time. As it turns out, he had to be convinced to play the toy icon.
Then while we were writing it, we cast Ryan in the writing and I wrote his name into the script and then I gave it to Margot and she said, ‘Oh, that’s wonderful, you know Ryan!’ And I’d never met him. Luckily he said ‘yes,’ because he was an inspiration without knowing him.
When asked about how he joined Barbie, the actor got candid about how it was really Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig who generated the momentum to get him on board. The lead actress was really the catalyst for bringing everyone together, including her director. Once on board, however, it took Ryan Gosling a little time to connect with his "Ken-ergy."
During Warner Bros.’ big panel about the movie, he waxed poetic about everything from fake tanner to shaving his legs and bleaching his hair for the role.
Well I have to be honest, I had — up until this point – I only knew Ken from afar. I didn’t know Ken from within. If I’m being really honest, I doubted my Ken-ergy. I didn’t see it. But Margot and Greta, I feel like they conjured this out of me somehow. It was like I was living my life and then one day I was bleaching my hair, shaving my legs, wearing bespoke neon outfits and rollerblading down Venice Beach. It just came on like a fever really.
In fact, Gosling was also serious about bringing the pink Barbicore narrative to CinemaCon. He also showed up to event in Barbicore (not the first time), including a pink bomber jacket, and was ready and prepped to talk all about Ken and Barbie. He kept the audience in stitches for quite some time during the panel, also getting into how messy fake tanner can be.
I just work up one day like, why is there fake tanner in my sheets? Why am I wearing jackets without shirts? What just happened? Anyway to work with this group–they are all brilliant. It was so exciting to work with them anyways and to be conjured in such a way was really special.
As for the universe the movie is set in, even America Ferrera says she “wasn’t a Barbie girl” when she signed on but that Greta Gerwig made her a convert. All four people involved in the movie who were onstage – the director, and the aforementioned three actors -- all spoke about the “tactile” nature of working on the Barbie set and how wild it was to see the Mattel toys come to life on the big screen.
Gosling also used a cinematic reference most movie lovers would understand when he talked about what walking onto that pink, pink set was like. He referred to The Wizard of Oz, noting, “I think I finally knew what Dorothy felt like.”
Fans should have an idea of what the actor means given we've seen stills of Margot Robbie as Barbie and a trailer for the film. Yet in new footage at the Las Vegas event we finally got an idea of the challenges Barbie will be facing as she deals with feeling out of sync with the other Barbies and Kens, leading to her escape into the real world. The movie will open on July 21sth, though we already know quite a bit about what to expect from Barbie ahead of that. In addition, Warner Bros. showed incredible-looking new footage from Dune 2 and footage introduced by James Wan from Aquaman 2 as well.
It is a bummer the flick won't be out for a few more months, but on the bright side, at least that gives you plenty of time to pull together a perfect Barbicore look for Barbie movie's opening weekend.
