The minute ‘Barbie’ star Ryan Gosling saw a Ken doll next to a squished lemon, he knew he had to play him

It didn’t take much convincing for Ryan Gosling to sign on for the new Barbie movie, but you’d be surprised to learn where his motivation came from. In fact, it came from two separate sources, both wildly opposite to one another on paper, but not so dissimilar if you read between the lines. As we know, Gosling stars alongside our resident Harley Quinn, Margot Robbie, as Ken, the himbo of the Mattel’s world-famous toy brand. Although he’s Barbie’s male counterpart, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to suggest that Ken isn’t as popular as Barbie, but no hard feelings, because Gosling is taking it upon himself to tell the lovable airhead’s story.

For the ‘Wet Hot’ summer edition of GQ magazine, Gosling communicated the main reasons why he felt obliged to take the role of Ken. Part of it, he says, came from the desire to work with a female-led cast. Did you know, out of the Barbie main cast, there are double the amount of female characters compared to male? Usually, this might be a total turn-off for some actors, but Gosling embraced the chance to take a backseat and let the ladies shine.

“I kind of respond to scripts, I guess, or characters, where there’s that kind of dynamic. I recognize it.”

In the same vein, he recalled how his daughters, Amada Lee and Esmeralda Amada, play with Barbie dolls, but tend to neglect Ken — understandably— to brush Barbie’s hair, undress her everywhere, imagination, life is your creation. He did mention, however, seeing a Ken doll face-down in the mud beside a squished lemon of all things. He must have had an epiphany from that blatant disregard of plastic doll life.

“I did see him, like, face down in the mud outside one day, next to a squished lemon, and it was like, This guy’s story does need to be told, you know?”

Even throughout Mattel’s long history as the manufacturer of Barbie dolls, we’ve never truly discovered Ken’s backstory beyond his status as Barbie’s boyfriend. Even then, the whole thing seems very on-again, off-again, so there isn’t much substance to Ken’s character besides rippling abs and a pretty face. You might be so inclined to think the same of Gosling, but fret not, he’s setting out to prove to the world that even when you’re face-down in the mud, you’re never down and out.