Mark Ronson and Ryan Gosling are both in Ken’s corner.
In a new interview with Vanity Fair, the music producer, 47, revealed that he immediately connected with Barbie’s right-hand man — or at least the version Gosling, 42, plays in the highly anticipated Barbie movie.
“You really fall in love with this hapless, but immediately sympathetic figure,” the seven-time Grammy winner told the magazine.
That instant Ken-ection, combined with his inability to locate a Ken in the sea of Barbies at the toy store (“nobody gives a s— about buying a Ken doll”), is what inspired Ronson to pen the power ballad “I’m Just Ken.”
The executive producer for the Barbie soundtrack told Vanity Fair that one of the song’s lyrics, “I’m just Ken / Anywhere else I’d be a 10,” came to him “instantly.”
“It just seemed funny,” Ronson said of the line. “It felt a little bit emo, like, ‘This poor guy. He’s so hot, but can’t get the time of day.’”
When the “Uptown Funk” musician wrote the hilarious-yet-heartwrenching line, “Is it my destiny to live and die a life of blond fragility?” he told the magazine that he couldn’t see anyone but Gosling belting it — and the actor agreed.
After The Notebook star first heard the demo of the “I’m Just Ken” — musical evidence that life in plastic isn’t always fantastic — he was such a big fan that he not only agreed to sing the track but also requested to perform it on-screen.
Ronson was worried about how Barbie director Greta Gerwig would react to the tune — he said he didn’t want her to think he was “trying to provide the funny” — but she agreed with Gosling. In fact, she liked the ballad so much that she rewrote a pivotal scene to ensure the Crazy, Stupid, Love actor could belt it in the film.
After recording the vocals for the song — now a critical part of the movie — the producer told the magazine he realized Gosling (whose musical resume includes his Oscar-nominated La La Land performance, an album with his rock duo Dead Man’s Bones and a stint as a Mouseketeer) was a “vocal powerhouse.”
“He really got [that] it had to walk this line of not being funny or parody,” Ronson told Vanity Fair. “But obviously, the song is also kind of ridiculous at times. So he was really amazing, and when he really did start hitting the big notes, I was like, ‘This dude is a vocal powerhouse!’”
In a new sneak peek of Barbie, Gosling gives a Ken-ergetic performance of the ballad, simultaneously showcasing his music prowess and comedy chops.
“I’m just Ken,” Gosling, as the Ken to Margot Robbie’s Barbie, croons in the preview. “Where I see love, she sees a friend. What will it take for her to see the man behind the tan and fight for me?”
Barbie hits theaters July 21.
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