Ryan Gosling was a standout in the feature Barbie, which was perhaps the biggest film of 2023. But his critically acclaimed performance might not have been the same if it wasn’t for his wife Eva Mendes. An actor herself, Mendes gave Gosling simple but perhaps effective advice that might’ve taken Ken to the next level.
How Eva Mendes helped shape Ryan Gosling’s Ken in ‘Barbie’
Ryan Gosling | Michael Blackshire / Getty Images
Mendes has worked with several actors in her long career, but she feels very few people can elevate her performance quite like her husband. Mendes has collaborated with Gosling on a couple of features like Place Beyond the Pines, where they met and started their love story. Mendes and Gosling also worked together on the film Lost River. Although Gosling didn’t star in the picture, he did direct and produce it.
After giving birth to her and Gosling’s first child, Mendes walked away from the spotlight to focus on being a mother. But pausing her Hollywood career wasn’t that big of a sacrifice for the Ghost Rider star, who confided she was never that passionate about acting to begin with.
“I was never in love with acting. I don’t mean this in a self-deprecating way, but I wasn’t a great actress. I had my moments when I worked with really great people,” Mendes once said in her very candid interview with The Times.
“He gets something out of me that’s never been accessible before,” she said.
But Mendes has also influenced Gosling’s own work. Barbie is an example of Mendes perhaps helping Gosling tap deeper into a character. Although a comedic part, Gosling shared he was a bit intimidated by the role. So much so that two things came to mind when he read the film’s script.
“It was the title page of the script, which said ‘Barbie and Ken,’ but ‘and Ken’ was scratched out. And the next impression was, this is the hardest part I’ll ever play,” Gosling recalled to W. “How do you approach playing a 70-year-old crotchless doll? There’s no research you can do for that. There’s no one you can shadow, no documentaries you can watch, no books written about Ken. You’re on your own.”
However, Mendes’ advice might’ve made the hardest part he’d ever play a bit easier to handle.
“I would just simplify everything. I’m like, ‘Just make Barbie notice you, that’s what Ken is all about.’ So then there was this desperation. He really loved that,” Mendes said. “I’d remind him, as he’s literally walking out the door, ‘Make Barbie notice you, make Barbie fall in love with you.’”
Ryan Gosling was the only choice for Ken in ‘Barbie’
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When it came to Ken, filmmaker Greta Gerwig had Gosling in mind and no other alternative. Her Barbie lead, Margot Robbie, agreed with Gerwig’s instincts.
“It was only ever Ryan Gosling, …read more
Source:: Showbiz Cheat Sheet
