Eva Mendes Told Ryan Gosling to Make Barbie Fall in Love With Him
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’
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’
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, and it was a long journey. Margot and I just wouldn’t take no for an answer,” Gerwig said in an interview with Rolling Stone. “From the moment that Margot came to me and I knew we were making this for Margot, I equally knew we were making this for Ryan. And I did not know Ryan at all. I’d never met him.”
Gerwig further added that she was looking for someone who combined traits from several talented but vastly different acting personalities. She found the Crazy in Love star to be the perfect mix of all these past stars.
“Who else could do this? It’s some combination of Marlon Brando meets Gene Wilder meets John Barrymore meets John Travolta,” she added.
When the two met, both Gosling and Gerwig approached Barbie the same way they’d approach some of their heavier independent films. This only strengthened the bond between the two.
“The way we talked about Ken was as in-depth character work as I’ve ever done with anyone about anything … I don’t know that anyone has ever invested more in making people understand the plight of this man. It was extraordinary,” Gerwig said. “I felt with both of them that I might direct movies for a long time and never see anything that uniquely and gloriously unhinged.”
