‘Barbie’ Movie Releases First Look at Ryan Gosling as Ken

Ryan Gosling has transformed into many characters during his career, but none have been quite like Ken in Greta Gerwig’s upcoming Barbie movie. Warner Bros. released the first photo of the La La Land actor in full Ken mode, complete with bleach-blonde hair, a spray tan, and six-pack abs. The movie stars Margot Robbie in the title role and features a star-studded supporting cast.

The picture matches perfectly with the vibe from the first Barbie image, which showed Robbie in a bright pink Cadillac. Both pictures evoke the 1990s Barbie aesthetic, complete with an all-pink house behind the stars. Gosling also wears a bleached jean vest. Plot details for the movie have been kept completely under wraps, but it’s rumored that the script by Gerwig and Noah Baumbach involves multiple Barbies and Kens.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star Simu Liu is thought to be playing one of the other Kens. Liu told GQ U.K. his agent insisted he auditions for the movie. “He literally said this verbatim,” Liu recalled. “He was like, ‘If I could stake my career on any one script, it’s the Barbie script. I really think you should do it.’”

Liu made Gerwig laugh after he told her about his time in a competitive hip-hop dance team. He said the film is “wild” and “incredibly unique.” It is not a musical, so Gosling and Liu probably won’t be showing off their dance skills.

The Barbie cast also includes Kate McKinnon, America Ferrara, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Mackey, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Issa Rae, and Will Ferrell. Robbie is a driving force in the project, as her LuckyChap Entertainment is producing the movie with Mattel and Heyday Films. Warner Bros. will release the movie on July 21, 2023.

In previous interviews, Robbie has promised Barbie will defy expectations. Barbie “comes with a lot of baggage … and a lot of nostalgic connections,” she told Variety last year. “But with that comes a lot of exciting ways to attack it. People generally hear ‘Barbie’ and think, ‘I know what that movie is going to be,’ and then they hear that Greta Gerwig is writing and directing it, and they’re like, ‘Oh, well, maybe I don’t.’”

Gerwig directed Lady Bird and the 2019 Little Women adaptation, both of which earned her Oscar nominations. She wrote the script with Baumbach, who worked with Gerwig on Frances Ha and Mistress America. His next movie is White Noise, which will be released on Netflix later this year and stars Gerwig and Adam Driver.