Ryan Gosling is reportedly in final negotiations to play Ken in Greta Gerwig’s forthcoming Barbie movie. If cast, the act would star alongside Margot Robbie, who’s already on board as Barbie herself.
According to Deadline, Gosling turned down the role at first, but is now in the last stage of talks with producers after his schedule shifted. He would star as Kenneth Sean Carson, Barbie’s boyfriend, who was introduced to the Mattel family in 1961.
Gerwig and Noah Baumbach were confirmed to be writing the script for the movie in 2019, with Gerwig also announced as its director earlier this year. The pair have previously collaborated on indie classics, including Frances Ha, Mistress America, and Greenberg.
A live-action Barbie movie has been rumoured since 2018, but Gerwig and Baumbach’s involvement suggests it might be taking a more indie direction. The film is being produced by Robbie’s company LuckyChap Entertainment, which is also working on an adaptation of Ottessa Moshfegh’s novel, My Year of Rest and Relaxation.
Speaking about taking on the formidable role of Barbie, Margot said in a previous interview: “It comes with a lot of baggage! And a lot of nostalgic connections. But with that comes a lot of exciting ways to attack it. People generally hear ‘Barbie’ and think, ‘I know what that movie is going to be’, and then they hear that Greta Gerwig is writing and directing it, and they’re like, ‘Oh, well, maybe I don’t’.”
The Barbie movie is set to start filming next year, with its release slated for 2023. In the meantime, Gerwig and Baumbach are busy working on the latter’s Netflix film, White Noise, which Gerwig is set to star in alongside Adam Driver, who played the lead in Baumbach’s acclaimed 2019 film Marriage Story. André 3000 has also joined the cast of White Noise, an adaptation of Don DeLillo’s 1985 postmodern novel.
