RYAN GOSLING THE Ken-erg IS REAL!

HE MIGHT BE PLAYING JUST KEN', BUT THE ACTOR PROVES HE'S AS BIG AS BARBIE IN THE NEW HIT FLICK

- Sara Tapia

Margot Robbie has stolen the spotlight in recent weeks with her Barbie-inspired looks on the red carpet, but it seems her co-star Ryan Gosling has just been waiting in the shadows for his time to shine. “Ryan Gosling is a scene-stealer delivering most of the laughs,” one critic praised after the film’s Los Angeles premiere recently, while another claimed it to be Gosling’s “best role to date”. “Give Ryan Gosling an Oscar nomination, I’m dead serious!” added a third.

The actor has been having a real renaissance – or “Ken-aissance” as his partner Eva Mendes has joked – of late. After signing up as Barbie’s beloved boyfriend-slash-sidekick in the highly anticipated film, Gosling was initially met with some disapproval over his casting – with some slamming the 42-year-old as too “ancient” to play the doll. Even the star himself wondered if he had it in him.

“I doubted my Ken-ergy, I’ll be honest,” Gosling tells WHO of being picked for the part. “But it was like I was in my backyard and I was picking up a discarded Ken doll, and then magically I was that Ken doll and it was [director] Greta Gerwig who was playing with me. And the only way back to the human world was to obey her very specific directions – and now I’m back!”

While Gosling has been leading man-worthy since he first stole hearts in his breakout role in 2004’s The Notebook, the actor has no qualms about playing second fiddle to Robbie’s Barbie in the film. “I think Ken is just happy to be a part of the narrative,” he admits. “That’s all. His sole job in life is just to admire the awesomeness of Barbie – and it’s a great job.”