Ryan Gosling Revealed Why He Turned Down The Barbie Film Initially

In a new interview with Variety, Ryan Gosling revealed that he initially turned down the role of Ken in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, for which he received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

“There were actual reasons why I couldn’t do the film,” he said. Citing “life things” and scheduling conflicts, the interview reports that the actor also “felt some trepidation” about playing the pop culture character.

However, Gerwig didn’t give up hope on casting Gosling. “I would call months later to my agents or something and say, ‘Hey, who did they get to play Ken?’” he recalled. “And they would say, ‘Greta says it’s you.’”

The writer-director said she kept crafting the character with him in mind, even writing “Ken Ryan Gosling” in script notes. “I think at one point I told him that I’d seen the future, and that he was in it and he was Ken. That made him laugh, but I think he also secretly saw the same future,” she said.

Barbie’s star, Margot Robbie, who is also a producer on the film, confirmed that her co-star “absolutely passed” on Ken at first, but she was just as insistent as Gerwig.

“We just couldn’t let that happen,” she said. “There was just no other version. Greta and I are both extremely determined and persistent people, otherwise this movie never would have happened. Every time he’s like, ‘I’m not doing this,’ we were like, ‘We are doing it, and it’s going to be fun.’”

How Margot Robbie Convinced Him

To sway Gosling to take the role, Robbie promised to give him a new gift every day while filming. “I bought him a present every day, and I’d leave it in his trailer, wrapped in pink and a bow tie, and it said, ‘To Ken,” she recalled.

None of the gifts were extravagant, but she said they held significant meaning for his role, from a book about horses (Ken’s favorite animal) to puka shells (the doll’s beach accessory).

Robbie’s dedication made Gosling finally agree to the film. “Eventually, I thought, ‘Who am I to argue with Greta Gerwig and Margot?’” he recalled. “And they believed I should do it more than I believed I shouldn’t. At a certain point, I thought, ‘They see something that I don’t see.’”

While Gosling didn’t return the gesture to Robbie, he did pay it forward. For Gerwig’s 40th birthday on Aug. 4, he sent a surprise flash mob to her pilates class, with a group of Barbies performing Dua Lipa’s “Dance the Night” and Kens singing “I’m Just Ken.” The director got emotional before realizing who sent the dancers, calling the gift “so beautiful.”