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Barbie star Ryan Gosling says his ‘Ken-ergy’ came on ‘like a fever’

Actor stars as Ken opposite Margot Robbie’s Barbie in Greta Gerwig’s forthcoming live-action movie

Roisin O'Connor
Wednesday 26 April 2023 03:32 EDT
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Trailer for The Barbie Movie

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Ryan Gosling told fans how he found his “Ken-ergy” after taking on the role in Greta Gerwig’s forthcoming Barbie movie.

The Hollywood actor stars as Ken in the live-action tale of arguably the world’s most iconic children’s doll, opposite Margot Robbie in the title role.

Appearing in a panel discussion at the Warner Bros’ ComicCon presentation of the film on Tuesday 25 April, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Gosling discussed the film with director Gerwig and co-stars including Robbie and America Ferrera.

Wearing a pink coat over a white T-shirt bearing Gerwig’s name, Gosling played up to the audience when asked by Warner Bros chief Michael De Luca how he channelled his “inner Ken”.

”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 said, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

“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.”

He explained that, one moment, he was living his life as usual until, “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,” he said. “Like, ‘Why is there fake tanner on my sheets? Why am I wearing jackets without shirts? What just happened.’”

The panel discussion, which also aired several minutes of previously unseen footage, comes after the movie’s second trailer was released earlier this month.

Robbie and Gosling in ‘Barbie'
Robbie and Gosling in ‘Barbie' (Warner Bros)

Fans went wild over one particular shot, which showed a close-up of Robbie’s feet as she slips out of a pair of fluffy pink heels.

However, instead of standing normally, Robbie’s Barbie stays on her tiptoes in a nod to how the toy doll appears.

“I need to know everything about this shot,” Chrissy Teigen said, praising the visuals. “How many takes, if she held onto something, was she harnessed, is the landing mark sticky, are they her feet, who did the pedicure, really just a documentary on this shot.”

“Why was this the most genius shot I’ve ever seen?” another fan asked.

Barbie is set to be released in cinemas on 21 July.

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