Ryan Gosling is proving everyone who told him not to take the role of Ken in the blockbuster movie, Barbie, wrong today. He was nominated for best supporting actor for the film which should silence all of his critics who said it was a career-ending move — Gosling understood the assignment.
Director Oliver Stone set off a flurry of criticism against the 43-year-old actor for even taking the role in the first place. “Ridiculous,” Stone told City A.M. in a June 2023 interview ahead of Barbie‘s release date. “Ryan Gosling is wasting his time if he’s doing that s**t for money. He should be doing more serious films. He shouldn’t be a part of this infantilization of Hollywood. Now it’s all fantasy, fantasy, fantasy, including all the war pictures: fantasy, fantasy. Even the Fast and Furious movies, which I used to enjoy, have become like Marvel movies. I mean, how many crashes can you see?”
The Greta Gerwig film, which she was shockingly not nominated for in the best director category, took all of that misogynistic nonsense and wiped it on the floor by taking in over $1.4 billion worldwide. Gosling showed that he could be in on the joke and still empowering women with his “Kenergy,” earning him another ride to the Oscars. And he has his daughters, Esmeralda, 9, and Amada, 7, to thank for persuading him in a very subtle way to tackle Ken.
Gosling told Jimmy Fallon in 2022 that he found his daughters’ Ken doll “face-down in the mud next to a squished lemon.” Being the ever-humorous actor, he snapped a photo of the fallen Ken and sent it to Gerwig, adding, “I shall be your Ken. For his story must be told.” That squished-lemon insight from his daughters gave him a path to creating a fully fleshed-out character who rarely got the spotlight in Barbie’s world.
As for Stone, well… he’s eating his words and offering Gosling and Gerwig an apology on X. He noted that his controversial comments were made “before the film even came out” when he “had little to no knowledge of the project beyond its title.” The Platoon director now stands corrected after seeing the film last summer. “I was able to see Barbie in a theater back in July and appreciated the film for its originality and its themes,” Stone added. “I found the filmmakers’ approach certainly different than what I expected. I apologize for speaking ignorantly.” And of course, he wished “Greta and the entire Barbie team good fortune at the Oscars.”
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