Ryan Gosling is still hesitant to let his daughters watch his role as Ken in the blockbuster hit ‘Barbie’ due to a hilarious reason. “I don’t know if you should watch your father as Ken,” Gosling, 43, said during an interview with E! News at the 2024 Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Saturday, January 13. “I don’t know what age is a good age to see your father do that.”
He playfully suggested that his portrayal of Ken in the 2023 hit “gets pretty crazy.” Although his daughters haven’t watched the full movie, they did visit the set and witnessed Gosling’s performance. “They’ve seen little parts of it and they came to set one day when I did a big musical number,” he revealed.
“I’m Just Ken” from #Barbie wins Best Song at the #CriticsChoiceAwards pic.twitter.com/cthFNn1SYM
— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) January 15, 2024
Ryan Gosling’s daughters are Barbie fans
Gosling shared that his daughters, Esmeralda, 9, and Amada, 7, were Barbie fans even before he portrayed Ken alongside Margot Robbie. “I knew that they loved it because they kept saying at first, ‘Hey, can we go to Target?’” he recalled.
“And we go to Target, and then they’d slowly go by the Barbie aisle. And my wife and I sort of realized, ‘OK, I think it’s time to let them have Barbies.’ And no interest in Ken, which was pretty interesting, too.” Gosling noted that playing the iconic role of Ken on screen was “a way to sort of make something both for and with them.”
I’ll admit that I wasn’t on board with Ryan Gosling as Ken at first, but in hindsight, it was perfect casting. pic.twitter.com/22iHyOqfCq
— ✨ Ed 🤦🏽♂️ ✨ (@eddluxe) January 15, 2024
Gosling talks about how his daughters play with Barbie dolls
Gosling previously shared that his kids take playing with Barbie dolls very seriously. “My kids, their Barbies aren’t even named ‘Barbie.’ They all have their own names [and] very complicated lives, backstories, interrelationships, history — you gotta know it all,” Gosling said during an interview with ET Canada in July 2023. “If you are playing with the two that are estranged now for some reason [and you did not know that], it’s like, ‘Get out of here.’”
The actor further talked about the tough rules of the play. “[The dolls] don’t even talk!” Gosling joked. “And by the way, [Ken] works at a grocery store, he’s not a fireman. You gotta know [the story lines].”
Eva Mendes is Team Ken
Gosling’s daughters might be Barbie fans but his wife Eva Mendes has always been Team Ken. “Eva is always supportive of the films Ryan takes on,” an insider dished to Us Weekly in August 2022. “She finds it cute and charming that he’s playing the role of Ken.”
Mendes proved to be a true supporter when she gave herself Gosling’s movie makeover which included bleach blond hair and a toned physique. “They were actually having fun role playing together after he went blond,” the source added. “They both got some good laughs.”
Prior to Barbie’s summer 2023 release, Mendes playfully expressed her admiration for Ken by sporting a T-shirt featuring her partner’s movie character, captioning the Instagram post with, “Got that real big Kenergy. Coz girls is players too.” The series of snaps showcased Mendes in a white shirt that read, “Barbie 2023. Ryan Gosling as Ken.”