Ryan Gosling reveals 'Barbie avalanche' in his house before playing Ken
Ryan Gosling says his house was filled with an “avalanche” of Barbie merchandise before he ended up playing Ken.
The Drive actor, 42, who has daughters Esmeralda, eight, and Amada, seven, with actress wife Eva Mendes, 49, said he felt he became the character as soon as he found one of his kids’ Ken dolls abandoned in their garden.
Speaking at Barbie's European premiere at London's Cineworld in Leicester Square, Gosling, who plays the titular character's airhead boyfriend Ken, said: “All things Barbie landed in my house at the same time — Barbie the doll and also the film.
“It was just sort of like a Barbie avalanche, I had to reckon with it.
“I just one day picked up a Ken doll in the backyard — and the next moment, I was him.”
Barbie director Greta Gerwig, who co-wrote the film with her filmmaker partner Noah Baumbach, admitted at the premiere the project had sent on an emotional rollercoaster.
She added: “It’s so exciting but I also feel this ever-present wave of like, ‘Oh no, I’m going to cry’, and then I’m like, ‘Don’t cry, it’s only amazing.’
“But it is — it’s a lot… it’s incredible, but it’s a lot of energy."
Gerwig added that Barbie creator Mattel was a joy to work with, saying: “I honestly can’t believe they let us make this movie, but they were really brave and they really allowed us to have creative freedom with their beloved brands.”
Gosling previously mentioned his kids' abandoned Ken dolls in a GQ interview, saying that seeing the plastic plaything being tossed aside reminded the actor of his early days with the Disney Channel’s Mickey Mouse Club and the time he took part in a shopping mall dancing contest.
He said: “I did see him, like, face down in the mud outside one day, next to a squished lemon, and it was like, this guy’s story does need to be told, you know?”
He added: “There’s something about this Ken that really, I think, relates to that version of myself. Just, like, the guy that was putting on Hammer pants and dancing at the mall and smelling like Drakkar Noir and Aqua Net-ing bangs.
“I owe that kid a lot. I feel like I was very quick to distance myself from him when I started making more serious films. But the reality is that, like, he’s the reason I have everything I have.”
Gosling thinks he has given his version of Ken as much of a back story as possible, saying: “Ken — his job is beach. For 60 years, his job has been beach. What the f*** does that even mean?... and everyone was fine with that, for him to have a job that is nothing."
Barbie opens in cinemas on July 20.— BANG SHOWBIZ
Photo: TPG News/Click Photos
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