The Ryan Gosling performance inspired by Sylvester Stallone: “That separated him from the others”
What a rollercoaster it has been for fans of Ryan Gosling. The Canadian star first found fame as a young member of the ‘All New Mickey Mouse Club’, before stealing the hearts of millions in Nick Cassavetes’ The Notebook. Then came his attempts to break through as a ‘serious actor’ with the likes of Drive, The Place Beyond the Pines, and La La Land. Now, he seems to have found a niche playing goofy himbos, as demonstrated by his fantastic turn in The Fall Guy and, of course, the mighty Ken in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie.
Gosling’s unhinged and captivating portrayal of the wannabe alpha male had audiences rolling in the aisles as part of 2023’s biggest movie and brought the actor legions of new fans and considerable mainstream attention. Part of Ken’s appeal – beyond his beautiful singing voice and love of horses – are his fabulous outfits, several of which were inspired by a very unlikely source.
In conversation with Variety, Gosling revealed that Ken’s love of mink fur coats comes from his and Gerwig’s mutual appreciation for Sylvester Stallone. “We found out that Stallone wore a lot of minks,” the actor said of the First Blood star’s look during the 1980s. “As long as Ken was wearing it, he was the Ken with the mink – and that separated him from the other Kens.”
Sly wasn’t the only inspiration for how Barbie’s long-term, long-distance, low-commitment casual boyfriend distinguished himself from the rest of the pack. “Some of it also came from The Bachelorette,” Gosling confirmed. “One guy’s the guy that wears glasses. One guy has the one earring. If you were to challenge and do the same thing as that person, you’d be infringing on their identity, and so Ken’s identity became the mink.”
He was also keen to highlight the similarities between society’s functions in ‘Barbieland’ and on the hit reality show. “They [the Kens] sit around idly waiting for the Bachelorette to acknowledge them. And, yes, they have no attention outside of the attention she gives them.”
Barbie, Mattel’s legendary fashion doll, played by Margot Robbie in this movie, had appeared on screen before, but never in a fleshed-out live-action capacity. However, there were still way more points of reference for her than for her gentleman friend. “There was no template for it,” Gosling said, admitting that he and Gerwig were constantly exchanging ideas over text for what Ken might look like. “I sent her a cover of Muscle & Fitness magazine from the ’90s that I remember my parents having when I was younger. My parents were bodybuilders for a while. It had the Barbarian Brothers on the cover.”
Another source of inspiration came from the actor Michael Beck, who played Sonny Malone in the Olivia Newton-John vehicle Xanadu. All this culminated in the oft-imitated Ken costume that made it to the final cut, as well as Gosling needing to work exceptionally hard to sculp his body. The actor explained the insane diet he underwent to achieve Ken’s chiselled physique, revealing that he ate “basically nothing” to prepare for it – “it was just, like, coffee.”
Though his eating habits may have been somewhat suspect, Gosling’s commitment to shaping the Ken character should be commended. Who’d have thought that when Stallone was punching and shooting bad guys in the ’80s, one day, he’d inspire the look of an Oscar-nominated singing toy?
