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All Ryan Gosling needed was a 40-piece orchestra, 62 dancing Kens, more than 24 giant Barbie heads, four cameo Kens and a surprise Guns N’Roses to turn his highly anticipated performance of “I’m “Just Ken” from “Barbie.” ”in one of the most incredible moments in awards show history.
After all the prolonged speculation about whether Gosling would perform “I’m Just Ken” at the Oscars, news broke in late February that he had been confirmed for a song-and-dance extravaganza. But in fact, Oscar producers had been talking to Gosling for months.
“That man, Ryan Gosling, is a true professional; “We met with him on Zooms months ago to talk about that performance,” said Molly McNearney, who produced the show with Raj Kapoor, Katy Mullan and Rob Paine. “Greta Gerwig also intervened creatively. He was very committed to it. Her choreographer, Mandy Moore, is exceptional: she was in all the calls. Also Mark Ronson.”
According to McNearney, it was Gosling’s idea to make the number a tribute to “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” from “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.”
In an interview the morning after the Oscars with choreographer Moore, he explained: “That’s where the pink suit and all the other black dresses came from, and the back stairs. And we paid tribute to the candelabra girls: we had Ken-delabra men.”
Gosling was heavily involved in the process of bringing “I’m Just Ken” to life. “He was pretty clear about the general structure of it,” Moore said, revealing how the actor had mapped out almost every move.
“I wanted to start in the audience, go up to see Mark, see Andrew (Wyatt the co-producer), turn on the Ken-delabras and then join the 10 dejected Kens on the stairs,” he said. “From there I wanted the rest of the issue to evolve as if Kens were coming from everywhere, ‘Calling all Kens.’ “It finally ended in a big celebration that revealed Slash.”
In previous Zoom sessions, Gerwig said her biggest wish for the performance was simply for the entire audience to stand up and sing. Then the producers blasted the lyrics on screen and unleashed the charisma machine that is Gosling in full Ken mode into the hallways.
Gosling shared Gerwig’s vision, according to Moore: “It was really important for him to jump in and include Margot (Robbie), Greta and America (Ferrera). He said, ‘I really need those ladies up front, because I’m going to get close to them.’ I want them to sing.’”
She even highlighted the exact line she wanted to share with her old friend and colleague Emma Stone as the song approached its crescendo (who later confessed that she might have ripped the back of her dress at the Ken-off while accepting the Academy Award ).
Everything was planned, even Gosling’s kiss on the cameraman’s hand.
“We practiced that,” Moore said. “(Gosling) was very sweet and she said, ‘Can we make sure Sean, the stable one, is okay if he kisses her hand?’”
The consensual kiss was another symbolic gesture of Ken’s love, thematically calling all Kens to the stage. “Everyone here is a Ken: we have construction Kens, we have grip Kens, we have camera Kens, we have them all,” Moore said.
Wolfgang Van Halen, Slash and Ryan Gosling perform ‘I’m Just Ken’ from ‘Barbie’ on stage during the 96th Annual Academy Awards.
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Rehearsals began about four weeks before the big day, with Gosling’s vocal team and Moore’s associate choreographer, Gillian Myers. Together, they began searching for his “language of movement” for Gosling, because the actor was not only sitting and singing, but also dancing, climbing stairs while singing live.
The practice sessions accelerated in recent days, until Slash arrived on Sunday. “The producers put in months of blood, sweat and tears to make it easy for the talent to learn and make it look as easy as they did on Sunday night,” said Disney executive vice president of unscripted and specials Rob Mills.
Even musical director Rickey Minor was on a tight deadline. “We only had two six-hour days to record and rehearse everything,” he said. “After that, there is only one more day to record with talent. We make adjustments, mix it and prepare it for performance.”
Busby Berkeley’s homage to the sea of Barbie heads was another Gosling request.
Just when all the pieces were starting to fall into place, the “Kens cameo” appeared. The original actors of the “Barbie” movie, including Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Ncuti Gatwa and Scott Evans, would join the team just days before the final presentation.
“Two days, two days!” Gatwa said Variety at the Vanity Fair Oscar party. “I flew in from London on Thursday and went on stage. “Mandy Moore kept us going.”
“I’m still processing it, to be honest,” Liu said just hours after his performance. “I think I’m still in shock. I passed out up there. You didn’t know if I did any of the choreography, right? He only vaguely knew where he had to be. Greta was screaming, she was very happy. I thought, ‘You know what? This is a great moment.’ I don’t know what movie she was auditioning for here, maybe it’s some kind of musical?’”
In the end, “I’m Just Ken” was a sensation, with praise from all sides. Co-star Ferrera asked Gosling to perform on the road. “Past Lives” star Greta Lee said witnessing “I’m Just Ken” was one of the highlights of the night: “I felt like I was in Vegas. In the best way. “I missed Celine when I went to Vegas, but I got to see Ryan.”
But what did Gosling think after the curtain fell?
Moore described his state of mind backstage, after everything was said and done. “She just gave me a huge hug,” he said. “And then he got very serious and asked, ‘Were the shots correct?’ I did a good job?
“I say yes! Oh my god, are you kidding me? Did you listen to those people? They were crazy!’”