“He was just a 70-year-old crotchless doll”: Ryan Gosling Claims He Made Ken Relevant Again in Barbie
Ryan Gosling began his career as an actor when he was just 12 years old with a role in Disney’s The Mickey Mouse Club. His co-stars on the show were future superstars such as Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Justin Timberlake. His breakthrough role came in 2001 with the critically acclaimed movie The Believer, which was a commercial failure.
2004’s romantic drama The Notebook catapulted Ryan Gosling to stardom and he has not looked back ever since. His role as Ken in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie brought him unparalleled fame. He recently used the term Kenergy, which he coined at a press junket to evade questions, to describe the musician, songwriter, and producer Mark Ronson. In doing so, he also claimed that he was the one who made Ken relevant.
Ryan Gosling Credits Himself for Making Ken Relevant
Throughout his career, Ryan Gosling has appeared in numerous blockbuster movies such as Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049, the rom-com Crazy, Stupid, Love, financial satire The Big Short, and Damien Chazelle’s La La Land. Greta Gerwig’s Barbie is yet another feather in Gosling’s cap.
Gosling was there at Variety‘s Hitmakers event recently. Although he regrets coming up with the term Kenergy sometimes, he wholeheartedly embraced it while speaking at the event. While he used it to describe Mark Ronson, the mastermind behind some of the most notable tracks on Barbie, he also claimed that he was the one who made Ken relevant.
These Barbies and Kens strutted their way to the win. Congratulations to #BarbieTheMovie on winning the Hollywood Music in Media Award for Best Soundtrack Album! pic.twitter.com/05jAHsnHai
— Barbie Movie (@barbiethemovie) November 17, 2023
Known for his good sense of humor and impeccable fashion sense, the Gangster Squad actor jokingly said:
“I can tell you from firsthand experience, up until six months ago, the entire world gave zero f*cks about Ken. He was just this 70-year-old crotchless doll with no house, no car, no job, and no voice, and look at him now! He has a Grammy-nominated power ballad and the voice of an angel. What happened? It’s simple. He met Mark Ronson, and his life changed forever. But he wasn’t the first and he won’t be the last.”
Ken’s life indeed did change and so did everyone else’s associated with him. Gosling has truly done society a favor by shedding light on Ken’s side of the story.
Mark Ronson Said Making Music for Barbie Was Challenging
Ryan Gosling gave an excellent introduction to Mark Ronson who rightfully won Variety’s Hitmakers’ Soundtrack of the Year award for creating Barbie‘s soundtrack and the entire score for the movie. Ronson was the executive music producer of Barbie and co-wrote the score with his longtime collaborator Andrew Wyatt.
Read More: Margot Robbie Reveals if Barbie Will Ever Become a Trilogy With Ryan Gosling
Ronson has been the creative force behind some of the greatest hits by Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga, Adele, Duran Duran, Diplo, and the late Amy Winehouse. However, he claimed that making music for a movie is tough, saying:
“I can play a track for an artist and it’s a banger, right?” he said. “With movies, it’s completely different. It might be an undeniably great piece of music, but if it’s not matching this unspoken thing that the director has always imagined when they see that image on the screen, it doesn’t work.”
It did work for Barbie considering its music has been nominated for 12 Grammys across seven categories. While Ronson is a little apologetic for taking over the Grammys, he is also very proud of all that the music has achieved.
