Thank God, then, for a snippet of the movie that Warner Bros. released an unprepared audience on Wednesday: a photo of a certain Ryan Gosling as Barbie’s tanned, toned and plastic boyfriend Ken. (CNN and Warner Bros. Pictures share parent company Warner Bros. Discovery.)
Gosling fans, moviegoers and occasional Twitter users are having a visceral reaction to the image of the Canadian actor, who stars in Margot Robbie’s Barbie. It is the first official image of Gosling as the character made famous in the toy aisle.
From the photo, Gosling has transformed into the quintessential Ken: her skin is dyed orange and shows a pack of eight abs and bleached blond hair. His underpants are inexplicably patterned with his own name, and he wears a shirtless sleeveless denim vest in front of a pink Pepto-Bismol backdrop. His Ken is a Malibu boy even.
But as for the plot, the photo is all we need to continue (as well as a photo of Robbie posing in the character with a pink convertible). Will Barbie get tired of Ken’s bland, shirtless ways? Will Ken prove to his beloved Barb that there is more to him than an absurd amount of abdominal muscles? Or will Ken conspire against Barbie and become the villain in her story?
The big cast adds to the mystery of what the film might be about: it includes comics like Issa Rae and Will Ferrell, as well as emerging stars Hari Nef and Ncuti Gatwa. It is rumored that some of the many cast members will play alternate versions of Barbie and Ken. But will any of them be Patron?
Fans will have to wait until July 21, 2023, when the film will be released, to find out what Barbie, Ken and Will Ferrell are doing.