‘Barbie’ star Ryan Gosling defends his casting as Ken after some fans said he was ‘too old’ to play the character: ‘Nobody cares about Ken’
- Ryan Gosling defended his casting in “Barbie” against those who said he’s “too old” to play Ken.
- “Barbie never fucked with Ken. That’s the point,” he said. No one is meant to care about Ken.
- Gosling’s character in “Barbie” likes the beach, and that might be his only trait.
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Ryan Gosling addressed social-media users saying that he’s “too old” to play Ken in Greta Gerwig’s upcoming “Barbie” movie.
In an interview with Gosling for GQ’s summer cover story, reporter Zach Baron brought up the online discussion around Gosling’s age. “I would say, you know, if people don’t want to play with my Ken, there are many other Kens to play with,” Gosling initially said in response, referencing the many other actors in the “Barbie” movie, like Simu Liu, who are playing alternate versions of the Ken doll.
Later in the interview, Gosling returned to the topic and joked about how ridiculous it was that people suddenly cared about Ken at all.
“Like you ever thought about Ken before this?” said Gosling of his character, whose job and pretty much entire personality is just “beach.”
Gosling as Ken and Margot Robbie as Barbie in “Barbie.”
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
“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,” Gosling continued. “Barbie never fucked with Ken. That’s the point. If you ever really cared about Ken, you would know that nobody cared about Ken.”
Gosling went on to joke that Ken’s critics were being “exposed” and Ken’s story “must be told.”
The GQ story directly referenced an article by the New York Post about the age criticism, titled “Gen Z ‘Barbie’ fans slammed for calling Ryan Gosling too ‘old’ to play Ken.”
The New York Post story cited a tweet calling Gosling “too old and dry” to play the doll and TikTok comments that referred to Gosling’s character as “Grandpa Ken.”
Gosling had supporters, though. “Gen Z saying Ryan Gosling is too old to be Ken and calling him ugly ?? have y’all lost your minds,” one Twitter user wrote.
“i genuinely don’t think ryan gosling is ugly at all and that’s why all this discourse is making me mad. like he’s kinda old looking, but ugly he is NOT. you guys are LYING,” another Twitter user wrote.
“I care about this dude now. I’m like his representative. ‘Ken couldn’t show up to receive this award, so I’m here to accept it for him,'” Gosling joked about defending himself and his character.
Since the full “Barbie” trailer was released in May, we now know Barbie will leave the idyllic “Barbie Land” of the film and go to the real world to ponder questions about death, sexuality, and aging. Ken will be along for the ride, but so far all Gosling will reveal about Ken is that he likes the beach.
“Barbie” will be in theaters July 21.
