What Inspired Ryan Gosling's Faux Mink Coat Look in Barbie?
The fur was a metaphor for exaggerated masculinity.
Summary
- More and more details about Barbie are revealed.
- Ken's faux mink was a nod to the classic '80s action movies.
- Barbie was to have a special scene with the mink coat.
Although Barbie made its debut almost half a year ago, it remains a hot topic for a number of reasons. First and foremost, it's a great comedy directed by Greta Gerwig that tackles and pokes fun at many social issues. Then, Barbie is the highest-grossing movie of 2023, with a staggering $1.44 billion at the box office. And finally, it was released at the beginning of this year's SAG-AFTRA strike, which is why it didn't get much promotion on behalf of the actors and creators at the time.
Now that the strike is over, Barbie continues to be the talk of the town. As a result, many details about the comedy have been revealed. For example, it turns out that Noah Baumbach didn't want to write the movie at first. It also seems that Ryan Gosling's famous mink coat macho look from Barbie had a deeper meaning.
A Tribute to the Action Movie Star
As Barbie explores the issues of patriarchy and masculinity, it delves into the very essence of what it means to be a man, poking fun at Ryan Gosling's Ken for his penchant for macho attributes, including the faux mink and horses. Remarkably, these attributes weren't pulled out of thin air by Gerwig - they were inspired by the camp machismo of the 1970s-80s movies and their ultimate star, Sylvester Stallone, famous for his roles in franchises like Rocky and Rambo.
'[Ryan Gosling and I] share a very deep love of Sly Stallone. And he wore wonderful coats [in his '80s movies]. We were texting back and forth pictures. So we decided Ken should have this faux mink. And then, there's a big musical number in the film – I'm just Ken. And he starts out like, "I'm just Ken." And then he ends like, "I'm just Ken!" you know? It sort of becomes this musical dream ballet,' Greta Gerwig revealed in a recent interview.
The Mink's Initial Purpose
According to the Barbie director, the infamous faux mink was meant to play a more significant role in Ken's reinvention of himself.
'One of the ideas tha Ryan had was that he would have a dance duet with his mink and that the mink would be fighting him and then love him and then fight him again, eventually defeat him and he would be birthed anew out of the mink. And somewhere there's rehearsal footage of this. It's in the vault. But the thing is, even though it didn't end up being in the movie, it was that kind of openness and everybody bringing such brilliant, wild ideas that allowed it [Barbie] to happen in its form. We had a fun week exploring what it would be [like] if he did his mink ballet,' Greta Gerwig added.
Well, even though Barbie didn't appear in that scene, Gosling's bizarre mink look actually made the movie more amusing and meaningful.
Source: YouTube.