We Need to Talk About Ryan Gosling’s Ken-ergy at CinemaCon

At first, I wasn’t sure about Ryan Gosling playing Ken alongside Margot Robbie’s Barbie in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie, but after his comments and overall slay at CinemaCon in Las Vegas this week, I truly believe we’re in safe hands.

During day two of the event, Barbie was showcased, and some of the cast and its director, Greta Gerwig, were in attendance. Gosling joined Margot Robbie and America Ferreira to talk about the film, and it was glorious. The Hollywood Reporter reported that he got laughs from the audience when he explained, “I have to be honest, I had up until this point, I only knew Ken from afar. I didn’t know Ken from within.”

He then said that his leading lady and director were the ones to help him in recognizing his “Ken-ergy.” “If I’m being really honest, I doubted my Ken-ergy. I didn’t see it. Margot and Greta, I feel like they conjured this out of me somewhere.”

After he and Robbie were announced in the lead roles, I was immediately like “Yes!” to Robbie, but was disappointed at his casting; I think a part of me wished that we were in 2003 and Freddie Prinze Jr. could’ve taken the role. But after those posters and the trailer was released and broke the internet earlier this month, and I heard him say the Oscar-worthy “boyfriend and girlfriend” as if it were one word instead of three, scratching an area of my brain I didn’t realize needed to be scratched, I was convinced.

He also described becoming and being the boyfriend of the iconic doll during the presentation, saying that before filming, he was just casually living and then “one day, I was bleaching my hair and shaving my legs and wearing bespoke neon outfits and rollerblading down Venice Beach. It came on like a fever, like a Scarlet fever.

“[Like] why is there fake tanner on my sheets? Why am I wearing jackets without shirts? What just happened.” Apparently, after that answer, the interviewers, Warner Bros. chiefs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy, paused and let his words sink in. De Luca said that Gosling’s answer was the “best.” He said of entering the film’s set, “I think I finally know what Dorothy felt like.”

One of my favorite aspects of the whole CinemaCon presentation was that Gosling wore a white T-shirt with “Greta Gerwig” written in the film’s font and color, along with a bright, blush pink jacket—an absolute fashion icon.

I don’t think he’s gonna let go of this role for a while, and I love that for him.

(featured image: Warner Bros. Pictures)