Ryan Gosling (
La La Land) returned to
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Thursday night for the first time in 10+ years to discuss his role as Ken,
Barbie’s boyfriend, in the upcoming
Barbie movie starring
Margot Robbie (
Suicide Squad).
Greta Gerwig (director and co-writer) offered him the role of Ken and Gosling commented that the script, written by Gerwig and Noah Baumbach, was the “best script I’ve ever read”.
However, his decision to accept the role wasn’t cemented until he went into his backyard to “think about it” and found a Ken doll “face-down in the mud next to a squished lemon”. He took a photo, sent it to Gerwig, and said “I shall be your Ken. For his story must be told”.
Ken’s lack of attention was discussed earlier in the interview as well, with Gosling expressing his surprise over how some people reacted to his viral photo as Ken that, as Fallon put it, “broke the Internet”. “As though they ever thought about Ken for a second before this. They never thought about Ken…He’s an accessory and not even one of the cool ones”. Fallon added an “Underappreciated character, Ken…He was available. He stayed in the toy box”.
With Ken lacking any sort of backstory, including a job and a home, fans can look forward to seeing this character finally receiving some of the spotlight.
The Warner Bros. film is set to be released on July 21, 2023.
Robbie and Tom Ackerley are producing under their LuckyChap Entertainment production banner, alongside Mattel’s Robbie Brenner and Heyday Films’ David Heyman. LuckyChap’s Josey McNamara and Mattel’s Ynon Kreiz are serving as exec producers. Other cast members include America Ferrera, Simu Liu, Kate McKinnon, Ariana Greenblatt, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Mackey, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Issa Rae, Michael Cera, Rhea Perlman and Will Ferrell.