Ryan Gosling is calling out Ken casting haters.
The “Barbie” star, who plays the generic version of Ken alongside the generic Barbie (Margot Robbie) among a slew of other iterations of each doll, weighed in on the debate that he was “too old” to be playing the role. This is the first live-action Barbie branded movie; Greta Gerwig directs from a script she co-wrote with Noah Baumbach.
“It is funny, this kind of clutching-your-pearls idea of, like, #notmyken. Like you ever thought about Ken before this?” Gosling told GQ in a cover story.
He continued, “And everyone was fine with that, for him to have a job that is nothing. But suddenly, it’s like, ‘No, we’ve cared about Ken this whole time.’ No, you didn’t. You never did. You never cared. Barbie never fucked with Ken. That’s the point.”
Gosling added, “If you ever really cared about Ken, you would know that nobody cared about Ken. So your hypocrisy is exposed. This is why his story must be told.”
The “Notebook” actor summed up, “I would say, you know, if people don’t want to play with my Ken, there are many other Kens to play with.”
Gosling previously shared that Ken has a “hard” life since he’s “got no money, he’s got no job, he’s got no car, he’s got no house” in the film.
“I felt like I was seeing myself. I felt seen,” Gosling said earlier this year. “I think a lot of Kens will feel seen when they see this. Gotta do it for the Kens. Nobody plays with the Kens.”
Case in point: Gosling’s own two daughters disrespecting their Ken doll at his house.
“I walk out in the backyard and, do you know where I found Ken, Jimmy? Face down in the mud next to a squished lemon,” Gosling recalled. The image in part led him to sign onto the film: He took a photo of what he found and texted it to Gerwig saying, “‘I shall be your Ken, for this story must be told.’”
For all the details on “Barbie,” click here.
