Nobody — not Ryan Gosling, Margot Robbie, or Hollywood execs — ever thought their highly-anticipated Barbie movie would ever be done.
However, once it was finally actually in production after many years and many different iterations – the film is out on July 21 – Margot, Ryan, and writer-director Greta Gerwig went all in and fully immersed themselves into Barbie Land.
In a new cover story for Vogue where she talks all things Barbie, despite how little is still known of the plot itself, Margot gave candid insight into what it was like filming the movie, and even the curious gifts she and Ryan gave each other to help themselves best get into their Barbie and Ken characters.
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The new interview not only reveals the makings of Barbie, but the preparation for it, including the envy-inducing, posh sleep over Greta hosted for the Barbies (which include Dua Lipa, Issa Rae, Emma Mackey, Nicola Coughlan, and others) at the Claridge's Hotel in London ahead of filming.
Keeping in the theme of "She's everything… he's Ken," the Kens (Ryan, Simu Liu, Scott Evans) were invited to stop by, but not to sleep over, and when Ryan couldn't make it, he made sure that his presence would be known nonetheless. The outlet reports that in lieu of stopping by, the actor "sent a singing telegram in the form of an older Scottish man in a kilt who played bagpipes and delivered the speech from Braveheart."
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The move on his behalf seems to have inspired a slew of funky gift-giving between the co-stars, and Ryan also shared with Vogue how Margot helped him get into his Ken character through daily gifts not from her, but from Barbie herself to Ken specifically.
"She left a pink present with a pink bow, from Barbie to Ken, every day while we were filming," he revealed, explaining: "They were all beach-related. Like puka shells, or a sign that says 'Pray for surf.' Because Ken’s job is just beach."
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He added: "I've never quite figured out what that means. But I felt like she was trying to help Ken understand, through these gifts that she was giving."
They seemed to have worked, and of Ryan's performance as Ken, Margot declared it's "the greatest version of Ryan Gosling ever put on screen."
Ryan himself was much more laissez-faire about the role, and admitted to the outlet: "Ken wasn't really on my bucket list. But in fairness, I don't have a bucket list. So I thought I'd give it a shot."
He had previously confessed while at the Warner Bros. panel at CinemaCon that: "I only knew Ken from afar," and that: "I didn't know Ken from within, and if I'm being really honest, I doubted my Kenergy," however, he said: " I didn't see it, but Margot and Greta, they conjured this out of me somehow."
He added: "It was like I was living my life and then one day I was bleaching my hair, shaving my legs, wearing bespoke neon outfits, and rollerblading down Venice Beach."
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