Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, in all its pink glory, concomitantly managed to blow patriarchal standards to smithereens and make audiences double down with laughter thanks to the comically genius duo of Ryan Gosling’s himbo Ken and Margot Robbie’s eponymous Mattel doll with an existential crisis.
Hilarious as the pair was, however, in their utopian Barbieland, it was nowhere nearly as mortifying as some of the shoes the Barbie co-stars had been in as child actors.
Ryan Gosling’s Most Embarrassing Moment Takes the Cake Over Margot Robbie’s
If you think Ryan Gosling in all those ludicrously goofy Ken outfits (remember the Western cowboy ensemble and rollerblading getup?) was embarrassingly funny, think again.
In a BBC Radio One interview with Ali Plumb, Margot Robbie and her Barbie co-star reminisced about some of their “I’ve never looked more ridiculous in my entire life” moments, and the Canadian actor certainly bears the palm for this one.
Sure, Robbie wearing a giant cigarette costume on the Australian soap Neighbors and saying “I’ll make you sick and I’ll make you stink and I’ll guarantee that no one ever wants to kiss you” sounds humiliating. But have you ever seen a hamster named ‘Chubby’ on television that “Carries Food In Cheeks?” Well, Gosling has.
“I was a hamster at one point,” The Notebook star recalled but immediately regretted it after his 13-year-old self came back to haunt him during the interview. While he’s presently a 3-time Oscar nominee with a bevy of blockbuster films on his résumé, Gosling had kickstarted his career as a Mouseketeer on Disney’s The Mickey Mouse Club where one of his roles was that of a rodent.
But then again, the show was also responsible for landing The Fall Guy star in the thick of stardom so you know what they say, all’s well that ends well.
How The Mickey Mouse Club Helped Ryan Gosling in Barbie
A treasure trove of ‘most embarrassing moments’ was not the only thing that Gosling gained from his time at Disney’s The All New Mickey Mouse Club.
Gosling – who was to perfect dance moves and singing as the iconic Mattel toy in Barbie – told Entertainment Weekly that he’d tapped his Mouseketeer roots to channel his inner dancer x singer persona in the film.
At a certain point I thought I had left that kid behind, and I realized that I needed his help to make this movie. So I had to go back and make peace with him and ask for his help. It was good for me.
And that’s not all. In a conversation with Variety, the La La Land star also mentioned how his mortifying hamster gig helped him with his impeccable performance as Ken. “I was a hamster in The Mickey Mouse Club, just to figure it out,” he said. “And all these ridiculous things. I could relate to Ken and the need to find yourself and distinguish yourself.”
Barbie can be streamed on Max or rented on Apple TV+.
