Ryan Gosling is joining Margot Robbie in the upcoming Barbie movie, it’s been revealed: more on it here.
Consider our interest piqued once more with the announcement that Ryan Gosling is in final negotiations to play Ken opposite Margot Robbie in the planned big screen adaptation of Barbie. There’s definitely something subversive at play here, with Robbie – who is producing the film under her LuckyChap Entertainment banner – speaking in the past about how the movie won’t be what audiences expect.
Gosling reportedly originally passed on the role originally due to scheduling conflicts, before finding himself able to accept it when circumstances changed. The actor has most recently completed filming on the big budget thriller The Grey Man opposite Chris Evans, and he’ll also be taking on the title role in The Wolfman in Leigh Whannell’s follow-up to The Invisible Man.
As for Barbie, the film has the rather exciting creative team of Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach behind the script, and what’s more, Gerwig is directing it, following on from her excellent adaptation of Little Women.
Robbie has promised that it won’t be what many expect. She said that “something like Barbie where the IP, the name itself, people immediately have an idea of ‘oh, Margot is playing Barbie, I know what that is’, but our goal is to be like ‘whatever you’re thinking, we’re going to give you something totally different — the thing you didn’t know you wanted.’”
On deciding to take the project, Robbie was equally adamant that the film would challenge stereotypes, whereas the iconic Mattel toy upon which the film is based has been accused for many years of the opposite. As she argues, “can we truly honour the IP and the fan base and also surprise people? Because if we can do all that and provoke a thoughtful conversation, then we’re really firing on all cylinders.”
We’re certainly interested, although when we can expect this in front of our peepers, we don’t yet know. We’ll keep you posted as we hear more.
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