The press tour for Greta Gerwig’s plastic fantastic Barbie film has been a truly awesome thing to witness.
It’s hard to remember a time when a marketing campaign felt – and looked – this good.
Not only have we been treated to an Architectural Digest tour of the film’s Malibu Barbie house, but it’s also possible to stay in the thing: a real-life human-sized Barbie dream house has popped up on Airbnb, too.
Pop’s biggest names – Dua Lipa, Charli XCX, Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice among them – have all contributed songs to the soundtrack, with incredible Barbie-inspired music videos.
Meanwhile London’s streets have been filled with pink buses with giant Ken dolls (aka Ryan Gosling) stretched across the side, cerise Black Cabs, and even a pink Tardis near Tower Bridge.
And the city seems to be thoroughly enjoying the fuchsia fantasy: at the film’s London premiere last night (July 12) fans dressed up to the nines queued for hours to get a glimpse of the cast – some sipped on rose-coloured drinks, some danced, some wore wigs.
But no one seems to be having more fun than Barbie and Ken. Margot Robbie has been wearing nothing but head-to-toe pink looks, or meticulous remakes of Barbie’s most iconic outfits, for what seems like months now, and has a huge grin constantly plastered across her face.
Meanwhile Ryan Gosling also seems to be having a ball on the press tour, giving increasingly surreal answers along the way. He’s been making hilarious quips, speaking about drawing on his inner-”Kenergy”, and going so deep with his Ken-isms that no one really knows what he’s talking about. And we’re absolutely here for it.
“Ryan Gosling is having the most fun anyone has ever had on the Barbie press tour,” tweeted one fan. “Every day I wake up thinking I can’t be attracted to Ryan Gosling more, then he does something even more himbo on the Barbie press tour and tests my limits even further,” said another.
people tweeting that Ryan Gosling is going insane on the barbie press tour and that his comments are incomprehensible... all i have to say is get on my level bc every single quote makes perfect sense to me comedically, dramaturgically, etc
— Key🌈✨ (@moonboycanyon) July 12, 2023
Here are some of our favourite Gosling-Ken moments so far.
The reason Gosling took on the life-changing role is seriously moving
“[Barbie was the] best script I’ve ever read,” said Gosling on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, speaking about the moment his children’s toys changed his destiny.
“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 ... I texted [a photo of] it to Greta and I said, ‘I shall be your Ken. For his story must be told.’ “
He elaborated on this origin story in a red carpet interview with Virgin Radio. “I doubted my Kenergy, I’ll be honest. It was like I was in my backyard and I was picking up a discarded Ken doll, and then magically I was that Ken doll, and it was Greta Gerwig who was playing with me,” he said.
“And the only way back to the human world was to obey her very specific directions ... to Ken as hard as I Ken. Ken in the morning. Ken at night. Ken publicly. Ken be all you Ken.”
The actor has gone deep on Ken
Look, Ken may be, as the movie says, “just a Ken”. But Gosling has taken this to heart. What does “just a Ken” mean? Who is Ken? How does Ken feel?
He has sung about this matter in a promotional video, depicting Ken.
“I have feelings that I can’t explain / Driving me insane / All my life been so polite / ‘Cause I’m just Ken / Anywhere else I’d be a 10 / Is it my destiny to live and die a life of blond fragility?” sings Ken.
“Doesn’t seem to matter what I do / I’m always number two.” Wow, Ken.
Gosling has also helped fans to understand the lives of Kens
“They’re Ken-ing, they’re Ken-ing all over the place, they’re Ken-ing all over each other, they’re Ken-ing everywhere and they’re Ken-ing so hard that they’re going to Ken themselves blind if they don’t stop Ken-ing,” he explained about the Ken dolls.
Right-o.
— ❤️🔥 (@ATR3lDES) July 12, 2023
He has defended his casting
When Gosling was initially cast as Ken there was some backlash online, with people using the hashtag #notmyken to argue their case.
“Ken doesn’t have pores or even skin! #notmyken,” said one fan on Twitter.
“Suddenly, it’s like, ‘No, we’ve cared about Ken this whole time’,” Gosling said to GQ. “No, you didn’t. You never did. You never cared. Barbie never f***ed with Ken. That’s the point. 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.”
His dedication to Ken borders on method acting
“Kind of cool how in Ryan Gosling’s Ken we have the positive version of a method actor becoming the joker. Every pr quote from him is incomprehensible. He went too method for Barbie and now his brain doesn’t work,” tweeted one fan.
It’s true that Gosling has been giving such good Kenergy, it’s difficult to know exactly where Gosling stops and Ken starts. As of now, the two have become one, a seamless stream of creative synergy. What a majestic thing to behold.
ryan gosling as ken is the only acceptable method acting and at this point i don’t know where ryan stops and ken begins https://t.co/H90NAbrHf6
— theo 🫐 (@gaypyrate) July 8, 2023
