Greta Gerwig wanted Ryan Gosling's Kenergy for Barbie after seeing him on SNL
Moviegoers can't get Kenough of Ryan Gosling's Kenergy — which Barbie director Greta Gerwig knew would be the case after seeing him on Saturday Night Live.
In a new interview on the SmartLess podcast, Gerwig discussed her admiration for Gosling's comedic talents, specifically on the legendary sketch comedy show, which he's hosted twice.
"You know those actors you can… just sort of feel that they know what's funny, and I always felt that about him," Gerwig said. "And then I'm a big fan of all of his SNLs, I always thought he was great on SNL… He did 'Guy That Just Got a Boat' on 'Weekend Update,' and it's so good."
Gerwig's referring to Gosling's turn as "Guy Who Just Joined Soho House," who joined Alex Moffat's sleazy "Guy Who Just Bought a Boat" wearing a hot pink outfit appropriate for a future Ken on "Weekend Update" in 2017.
The filmmaker said that she wrote the part of Ken with Gosling in mind, to the point where his name appeared in the screenplay — despite the fact that she'd never met the actor before.
"We actually, in writing it, cast Ryan, like we wrote his name into the script and everything… and [Gosling's name] was everywhere," Gerwig, who wrote the movie with Noah Baumbach, said in the interview. "And then when we handed them the script, the studio was like 'Oh, it's so wonderful that you know Ryan.' And I was like, 'Oh, I don't know Ryan. I've never met Ryan, I have no idea.'"
In the same interview, Gerwig also discussed her decades-long friendship with Barbie star and former dormmate Kate McKinnon, with whom she took playwriting classes while they were both in college in New York (McKinnon graduated from Columbia University and Gerwig from Barnard).
"[McKinnon] was always the funniest, most talented person I'd ever met, like good at everything," Gerwig said. "And I also saw her do drama, like, she could do anything. She was like Meryl Streep, she was unreal."
Gerwig also said that Gosling drew surprising connections between Barbie's Kens and the men of The Bachelorette.
"When we started talking about Ken… [Gosling] was like 'Oh, Ken reminds me of the men on The Bachelorette when the woman isn't around, they don't know what to do with themselves, and they get stressed out, and they're doing pushups,'" Gerwig recounted. "'And they kind of are competitive with each other. And it's like, if one guy wears glasses and then another guy wears glasses, he's like "No you took my thing! I'm the guy with glasses!"'" she recalled Gosling saying.
Gosling and McKinnon star alongside Margot Robbie in Gerwig's Barbie, now playing in theaters.
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