Oscars Producer Says Ryan Gosling Planned Every Detail of "I'm Just Ken" Performance

Ryan Gosling brought down the house at the Academy Awards on Sunday night. Nominated for his portrayal of Ken in Barbie, 2023's biggest film, Gosling played coy about performing the Oscar-nominated song "I'm Just Ken" at the show. As we now know, Gosling was playing the long game, having worked for months on the show-stopping "I'm Just Ken" performances that saw several of his co-stars — as well as iconic guitar player Slash — taking the stage.

The performance includes a 40-piece orchestra, more than 60 Kens, and a couple dozen giant Barbie heads, making "I'm Just Ken" one of the most memorable musical numbers at the Oscars in recent memory. Molly McNearney, who produced this year's Academy Awards with Raj Kapoor, Katy Mullan, and Rob Paine, spoke to Variety the morning after the show about just how committed to the performance Gosling was.

"Ryan Gosling is a true professional, that man — we met with him on Zooms months ago, talking about that performance," McNearney said. "Gret Gerwig weight in creatively as well. He was so committed to it. His choreographer, Many Moore, is exceptional — she was on all the calls. So was Mark Ronson."

"That's where the pink suit, and everybody else in black came from — and the stairs in the back. And we did an homage to the candelabra girls: We had Ken-delabra men."

Moore, Gosling's choreographer, also took part in the interview, talking about the big plans Gosling brought to the table from the very beginning.

"He was pretty clear about the overall structure of it," Moore added. He wanted to start in the audience, come up and see Mark, see Andrew [Wyatt, co-producer], ignite the Ken-delabras and then join the 10 dejected Kens on the stairs. From there, he wanted the rest of the number to evolve as if kens were coming from everywhere, 'Calling All Kens.' Eventually ending in a huge celebration revealing Slash."

Gosling's plans also included a couple of key moments in the performance that may have seemed improvised. At one point he brought the mic to Barbie director Greta Gerwig and stars Margot Robbie and America Ferrera, allowing them to join in the song. The then took the mic to longtime friend and collaborator Emma Stone, who sang a line as well. 

On his way back to the stage, Gosling kissed the hand of the camera man, which was also something he came up with while rehearsing.

"We practiced that," Moore said. "[Gosling] was very sweet he goes, 'Can we just make sure that Sean the steady is OK if I kiss his hand?'"

What did you think of Ryan Gosling's "I'm Just Ken" performance? Let us know in the comments!