Margot Robbie shares how she persuaded Ryan Gosling to play Ken for 'Barbie' with wholesome promise

When it comes to the stunning Margot Robbie and award-winning Ryan Gosling film Barbie, one either loves it or doesn’t—there's no in-between. The actor who was recently nominated at the Oscars as the best supporting male actor wasn’t on board with playing the handsome character of Ken for the movie. Gosling wasn’t on par for the role for multiple reasons, reports Variety. “There were actual reasons why I couldn’t do the film. Schedule things. Life things. And I would call months later to my agents or something and say, ‘Hey, who did they get to play Ken?’ And they would say, ‘Greta says it’s you,’” Gosling recalled.

Greta Gerwig, the director of the film, had penned down Gosling’s name for Ken’s character and hoped it would work out. Margot Robbie, who played the lead Barbie, chalked out traits she deemed fit for the role and mentioned that Gosling would be the perfect match. “Greta and I are both extremely determined and persistent people, otherwise this movie never would have happened,” Robbie said. She also added that each time Gosling felt skeptical about the role, they’d persuade and persist him to carry on. The movie that turned out to be quite a hit wasn’t all that easy to go ahead with.

Robbie revealed that it took more than persuasion and persistence to maintain Gosling’s enthusiasm for the role. Robbie revealed that she made a promise to Gosling that was casual yet determined to get him to do the film. “I said, ‘I’ll buy you a present every day if you come and do this movie,’” she said. Robbie pointed out that the gifts were not extravagant ones but were simply gestures to keep up to her promise and appreciate Gosling for his work. Right from a necklace, a book and so on, the gifts were more aligned with Ken’s character which also reinforced Gosling to get into his role.

“I bought him a present every day, and I’d leave it in his trailer, wrapped in pink and a bow tie, and it said, ‘To Ken.’” Robbie said. Gosling believed that the role could be played by anyone and was doubtful why Robbie and Gerwig insisted on him alone. “Eventually, I thought, ‘Who am I to argue with Greta Gerwig and Margot?’ They had a vision for it. They believed it. And they believed I should do it more than I believed I shouldn’t,’” Gosling mentioned. Later, he understood what it takes to play Ken and figured out why they requested the Gosling charm over any other.

The actor eventually gave in and jumped on board to committedly shoot the film and undoubtedly the work paid off. Right enough, Robbie’s plan to get Gosling in on the film worked wonders because no actor could have delivered Ken the way Gosling so naturally did. The actor revealed that he really got into the role with little details right from picking out gear and accessories from reality show references to bleaching his hair because a wig didn’t seem right. “What was weird was I ended up looking like I did at 8 or 12, which was the era I was revisiting anyway,” Gosling added.