Hollywood star Ryan Gosling is basking in the glory of his ‘kenergy’. While Margot Robbie is receiving rave reviews for her performance as Barbie in the Greta Gerwig directorial, Gosling is enjoying an equal share of the limelight for his pitch perfect turn as Ken. The La La Land actor’s performance is being hailed as one of the best by a lead actor for the year with Gosling touted to be up there with the major acting nominations.
Much before Barbie though, it was the 2004 film The Notebook that cemented Ryan Gosling’s place as one of Hollywood’s A-list stars. Also starring Rachel McAdams, The Notebook was, and is still considered one of the greatest romantic dramas of all time with the lead pair sharing a timeless chemistry on screen. Director Nick Cassavetes revealed that Gosling was invested in his character to the extent that he made a few key suggestions about the path that the narrative of the lovers should take.
Ryan Gosling Wanted A Dramatic Finale For His Character In The Notebook
The Notebook is arguably one of the most sensual and romantic dramas that has ever come out of Hollywood. The narrative that folllows two lovers who are separated by fate, stars Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams whose chemistry on screen still gives goosebumps to audiences. The pair who won an award for the best onscreen kiss, were also a couple in real life. Following their pairing in The Notebook, both stars dated for two years before going their separate ways reportedly due to the pressures of maintaining a personal relationship in show business.
While talking about the experiences in The Notebook, director Nick Cassavetes revealed how Ryan Gosling was so invested and passionate about his character Noah and the house that was an integral part of the narrative, that he suggested an extreme scene which involved burning it down, and with it, his feelings.
“He’d come to me and say: ‘Why can’t I burn the house down?’ I’d say: ‘Because I don’t even know what that means’. And he’d say: ‘Cleansing my fire’.”
While Cassavetes confessed that he eventually understood the metaphor that Gosling was getting at, he did not ultimately use the celebrity’s suggestion and went with his own script where the house was symbolically passed down to future generations.
Why Ryan Gosling Is The Perfect Ken
When Greta Gerwig announced her cast for her ambitious project Barbie, most viewers were shocked and sceptical about Ryan Gosling playing Ken to Margot Robbie’s Barbie. But the charismatic star has proved everyone wrong by turning in a brilliant performance that was goofy, funny, relevant, and powerful all at once. Gosling’s role as Ken is testament to the fact that he has never been typecast or boxed into any particular genre over his career, thereby giving him the freedom to explore various nuances through his characters.
In Barbie, he walks the perfect tightrope between confidence and arrogance while also playing to the gallery with his over-the-top humor on one side, and embracing vulnerability and imperfections on the other. Furthermore, the actor also squashed the initial criticisms from audiences about possibly being too old to play Ken by looking the most youthful and fit as he has ever been all these years.
Source: The Digital Fix
