Ryan Gosling to His 'Barbie' Movie Haters: "Your Hypocrisy is Exposed"

Ryan Gosling is kind of obsessed with Ken now.

It’s been around two years since it was first announced to the public that Hollywood heartthrob Ryan Gosling, known for roles in films ranging from La La Land to Blade Runner 2049, would be playing everyone’s favorite plastic boyfriend, Ken, in the upcoming Barbie movie.

Starring Margot Robbie and directed by Greta Gerwig, Barbie has quickly become one of the most anticipated movies of the summer – it seems that, since the trailer dropped, everybody has been talking about it.

One of the things they’re talking about is Ryan Gosling, specifically, whether he’s too old to play Ken.

Ryan Gosling: None Of You Ever Really Cared About Ken

barbie trailer ryan gosling and simu liu — Credit: Warner Bros.

At 42 years old, even Gosling would likely admit he’s no spring chicken. However, he takes issue with the general idea of audiences criticizing a role they haven’t seen yet – and how commonplace a practice it has become.

It is funny, this kind of clutching-your-pearls idea of, like, #notmyken. Like you ever thought about Ken before this? 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.

How does Gosling know this, exactly? Well, to hear him tell it, it’s because he does care – deeply. Ryan Gosling seems to comprehend something in the nothingness of Ken’s character, something that most people miss, but he’s waiting for the movie to come out to explain what it is.

For now, he offers his haters this retort:

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.”

Criticisms of Ken’s Casting May Prove Incredibly Ironic

barbie trailer ryan gosling and margot robbie — Credit: Warner Bros.

Gosling’s frustration speaks to a larger one growing in Hollywood: Namely, fans decide what a character should be before they’ve seen a movie and then start an online campaign about it.

This phenomenon likely happened in the days before the internet, but on a smaller scale, much less visible to the actors and studios making the movie. Unlike back then, people with these complaints expect to be acknowledged.

To all the complainers out there, Gosling gives one last glib comment:

You know, if people don’t want to play with my Ken, there are many other Kens to play with.

And there are – we already know that there will be at least four other Kens, including Simu Liu, Ncuti Gatwa, Kingsley Ben Adir, and Scott Evans. (There will also be one Alan, played by Michael Cera, whatever that means.)

It seems very likely that there will be a lot more to this story than meets the eye, even from the trailers that have come out – and, if Ryan Gosling’s reaction to the #NotMyKen campaign is any indication, the plot of Barbie is going to make this whole argument incredibly ironic.

In a world named BarbieLand that is overflowing with Barbies – and, as an aside, with Kens too, it seems that the Kens will be the last ones anyone thinks about – and that will probably be a featured plot point in the movie. Fans bellyaching over the minute details of any particular Ken doll will seem extra funny when the fact that the details don’t matter is literally baked into the plot.

It’s also possible that Ryan Gosling’s relative age will be addressed once Barbie and Ken get to the Real World, which would make any complaints about him being too old to play Ken incredibly ironic in hindsight.

We’ll find out soon – Barbie will strut into theaters on July 21, 2023.