Current:Home > MyRyan Gosling Surprises Barbie Director Greta Gerwig With a Fantastic Birthday Gift-VaTradeCoin
Ryan Gosling Surprises Barbie Director Greta Gerwig With a Fantastic Birthday Gift
lotradecoin privacy View Date:2024-12-25 22:46:35
This Ken is the ultimate gift-giver.
In celebration of Greta Gerwig's 40th birthday, Barbie star Ryan Gosling surprised the film's director with a Barbie-and-Ken-themed flash mob.
As seen in a clip shared to the movie's official account Instagram Aug. 4, a group of dancers popped into Greta's Pilates class as part of the big reveal, with a group of Kens performing along to the single, "I'm Just Ken," followed by a round of Barbies that competed their routine to Dua Lipa's "Dance the Night."
(Both songs are featured in Barbie, with the former helping Ryan to land his first-ever entry on the Billboard Hot 100.)
"As Kens know," the caption alongside the Instagram video read, "Sometimes the only way to express your feelings is through song & dance! Ken Ryan sent these special Barbies and Kens to start Greta's birthday with all the feelings!!"
And it's safe to say that the Lady Bird director felt all the feelings, as Greta was seen wiping away happy tears as the flash mob completed their performance.
Greta's fantastic birthday gift comes amid the movie's successful (and fast-growing) run at the box office, with some already wondering about a possible sequel in the future. However, Greta doesn't have her eyes set on returning to Barbieland just yet.
"At this moment, it's all I've got," Greta—who co-wrote the film with partner Noah Baumbach—told The New York Times in a July 25 interview. "I feel like that at the end of every movie, like I'll never have another idea and everything I've ever wanted to do, I did."
But there's even more fantastic facts where that came from. Keep reading for all the secrets behind Barbie:
Margot Robbie, who stars as Barbie and also produced the film, admitted in an interview that she always wanted Ryan Gosling to be her Ken. She said he was written into the script—as the character "Ken Ryan Gosling"—and joked, "We pretty much wouldn't take no for an answer."
"We just kept bothering you," writer/director Greta Gerwig admitted to Ryan in an SXM interview. "Margot was like, 'Is it weird if I go to his house?' I was like, 'Don't go to his house. We're just gonna stay put.' Send a follow-up text." As Margot teased, "I would see a sea of blue on my phone."
Ryan revealed that Margot gave him daily gifts inspired by his character Beach Ken.
"She left a pink present with a pink bow, from Barbie to Ken, every day while we were filming," Ryan told Vogue. "They were all beach-related. Like puka shells, or a sign that says 'Pray for surf.'" He said that he's "never quite figured out" what Ken's job as "Beach" means, "But I felt like she was trying to help Ken understand, through these gifts that she was giving."
Amy Schumer explained the real reason she dropped out of the Barbie movie.
"I think we said it was scheduling conflict, that's what we said," she said on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen in June 2023. "But yeah, it really was just, like, creative differences. But you know what? There's, like, a new team behind it, and it looks like it's very feminist and cool. So, I will be seeing that movie."
These Barbies were almost movie stars—or, rather, these movie stars were almost Barbies. After Amy left the movie, Anne Hathaway was signed up to take the lead, but it was later reported that she was no longer involved. When Margot got on board, she tried to recruit Gal Gadot to join as another Barbie, but the Wonder Woman star wasn't available.
Greta Gerwig's former Lady Bird and Little Women muse Saoirse Ronan was also supposed to appear in Barbie but had to cancel. "I was supposed to do a cameo because I live in London and they were [filming] there," the actress admitted to People. "There was a whole character I was going to play—another Barbie. I was gutted I couldn't do it."
"We've always tried to get in a proper fart joke and we've never done it," Greta told IndieWire. "We had like a fart opera in the middle [of Barbie]. I thought it was really funny... And that was not the consensus."
But her editor Nick Houy has hope she'll let one rip in a future film, adding, "We need to work it into a more significant narrative moment next time."
While the script comedically name-drops other shows and movies—including the The Godfather, Pride and Prejudice and Zack Snyder's Justice League—there are multiple Easter eggs to The Wizard of Oz hidden in the set. A movie theater marquee shows that the 1939 film is playing in the doll world, but the inspiration didn't stop there.
"[The Wizard of Oz] does something that I wanted to emulate," Greta said in an interview, "which it's using these incredible sound stages and these painted skies and this sense of 'authentic artificial,' which I think is very beautiful and emotional."
The 39-year-old explained, "I think of the painted backdrop of the Emerald City as they go towards it, and we put in our movie, we have the pink brick road, instead of the yellow brick road. We also have beautiful painted backdrops of horizons. We executed it like they would have done in the ‘30s and ‘40s."
Spreading Christmas cheer in July, Will Ferrell made some cheeky nods to his beloved Elf character Buddy while playing the Mattel CEO in the Barbie movie.
Among the discreet references to the 2003 comedy? He demands to be the one to press a button in the Mattel office elevator (calling back to the Elf scene where he presses every button in his dad's office building elevator, because the lights look "like a Christmas tree.") In Barbie, his suited character also starts a tickle fight—just like Buddy the Elf does with his dad Walter (James Caan) while being tucked into bed one night.
Going where no Barbie has gone before... The opening scene of Barbie pays homage to the 1968 Stanley Kubrick film 2001: A Space Odyssey, which shows a group of hominins discovering a futuristic monolith. In Barbie, a group of girls are shocked by a giant version of the original 1959 Barbie doll, wearing a black and white striped swimsuit.
Fans speculate that Gloria's daughter Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt) and her friends in the cafeteria were inspired by Barbie's rivals, the original Bratz dolls: Sasha, Chloe, Yasmin and Jade.
Casting director Allison Jones revealed Saturday Night Live star Bowen Yang, Schitt's Creek actor Dan Levy and Dear Evan Hansen actor Ben Platt almost played Kens in the movie but weren't able to make it work. She added, "They were, I'm not kidding, really bummed they couldn't do it."
According to the casting director, before Michael Cera came on board as Ken's buddy Allan, the part almost went to a certain Frozen actor.
"Dear, dear Jonathan Groff was like, 'I can't believe I'm typing this,'" Allison Jones told Vanity Fair, "'but I can't do Allan.'"
America Ferrera's IRL husband Ryan Piers Williams plays none other than her character Gloria's husband in Barbie. Ryan—whose past work includes producing, writing and acting in X/Y with America in 2014—is credited as "El Esposo de Gloria."
"It was a happy accident," John Cena told Today of his casting as a Mermaid Ken. He said he "kind of" pitched himself to join the film "in an accidental run-in with Margot Robbie." As he recalled, he told the actress, "'I would do, pretty much, whatever you guys need 'cause I really enjoy the movie,' and they asked me if I wanted to be a merman."
The French version of Barbie's poster went viral after social media users pointed out the double entendre of the translation. The tagline, "She can do everything. He's just Ken," was translated to, "Elle peut tout faire. Lui, c'est juste Ken."
However, fans went wild after pointing out that "ken" has a slang meaning in French as "f--k" and would translate to, "He can only f--k." Bonjour, Ken!
The Barbie actresses revealed they had a cast sleepover at London hotel Claridge's to get close. "We all shared beds and wore our pajamas, and ordered room service," Margot revealed on The Kelly Clarkson Show, "and played games, and found out that America is exceptionally competitive."
America had her own tea to spill about the evening. "Nobody told me that it was a sexy Barbie sleepover," she quipped. "So everybody was in like really pretty silky nightgowns, and I was in like the most grandma floral twin set you can imagine."
As for the Kens? "Greta was very deliberate in what she wanted the Kens to do to bond," Simu Liu exclusively told E! News, "which was to gym together."
Though Nicola Coughlan only appeared for a few moments in the film, it was very important to her that she experience life in plastic.
"I auditioned for Barbie back in January 22 when I was on holiday with friends," she wrote on Instagram. "I'd packed one random hot pink dress I hadn't worn at all and when I had to make my audition tape I thought—this is fate, I have a dress in Barbie Pink!"
Admitting she's "obsessed" with Greta Gerwig, the Bridgerton star said that "the prospect of working with her was something I couldn't even have imagined."
"When I found out she wanted to have me be part of @barbiethemovie, and then that I probably wouldn't be able to make it work because of my schedule I was firstly elated and quickly heartbroken," Nicola continued. "So when I was asked if I wanted to pop into Barbieland even briefly my answer was an immediate, and very emphatic yes."
The film concludes with Margot Robbie adopting a new life as a human named Barbara Handler, a reference to Barbie inventor Ruth Handler's real-life daughter. Barbie enters an office building and delivers her final line to a receptionist: "I'm here to see my gynecologist."
Why did Greta end on that note? "With this film, it was important for me that everything operated on at least two levels," she told USA Today. "I knew I wanted to end on a mic drop kind of joke, but I also find it very emotional. When I was a teenage girl, I remember growing up and being embarrassed about my body, and just feeling ashamed in a way that I couldn't even describe. It felt like everything had to be hidden."
The director said she hoped the way Margot delivered the line with a "big old smile on her face" and with "such happiness and joy" would help de-stigmatize conversations about women's health and "give girls that feeling of, 'Barbie does it, too'—that's both funny and emotional."
Watch E! News weeknights Monday through Thursday at 11 p.m., only on E!.veryGood! (22397)
Related
- China says Philippines has 'provoked trouble' in South China Sea with US backing
- Kansas City fans claim power back by rejecting Chiefs and Royals stadium tax
- Everything you need to know about how to watch and live stream the 2024 Masters
- LSU star Angel Reese declares for WNBA draft
- Wisconsin kayaker who faked his death and fled to Eastern Europe is in custody, online records show
- Suits’ Wendell Pierce Shares This Advice for the Cast of Upcoming Spinoff
- Caitlin Clark and Iowa fans drive demand, prices for Final Four tickets
- Man charged with killing 3 relatives is returned to Pennsylvania custody
- 'Squid Game' without subtitles? Duolingo, Netflix encourage fans to learn Korean
- Indiana House Democratic leader to run for mayor of Fort Wayne following death of Tom Henry
Ranking
- Amazon's Thank My Driver feature returns: How to give a free $5 tip after delivery
- Snag This $199 Above Ground Pool for Just $88 & Achieve the Summer of Your Dreams
- NYC’s AI chatbot was caught telling businesses to break the law. The city isn’t taking it down
- Amid violence and hunger, Palestinians in Gaza are determined to mark Ramadan
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Dropping Hints
- 'Reacher' star Alan Ritchson reveals sexual assault by 'famous' photographer: 'Left some scars'
- When do new 'Shōgun' episodes come out? Full season schedule, cast, where to watch
- Tom Felton Reveals Which Scene He Wishes Made It Into Harry Potter
Recommendation
-
American who says he crossed into Syria on foot is freed after 7 months in detention
-
Can the eclipse impact your astrological sign? An astrologer weighs in
-
Man sentenced to 37 years on hate crime charges in deadly shooting at Muslim-owned tire shop
-
Man cuffed but not charged after Chiefs Super Bowl Rally shooting sues 3 more lawmakers over posts
-
Manager of pet grooming salon charged over death of corgi that fell off table
-
Is dry shampoo bad for your hair? Here’s what you need to know.
-
Demolition of groundbreaking Iowa art installation set to begin soon
-
9 children dead after old land mine explodes in Afghanistan