Ryan Gosling & This Week's Pop Culture Highlights
We’re two weeks past the Oscars but I still haven’t stopped thinking about the best moment of the broadcast… when Ryan Gosling delivered the I’m Just Ken performance of my dreams. The second the camera panned to him with a cowboy hat over his head, I knew the world was in for something special. Whoops, I had to click on it again to put the link in this newsletter. Fine, I’ll re-watch it. For the newsletter. For you.
Highlights? Too many to count. Billie Eilish losing it the background of the opening shot, hand covering her mouth. Ryan Gosling almost losing it at the :40 second mark when he pretends to gently punch Mark Ronson in the face. The bedazzled pink suit. When all the Kens pretend to slap themselves. Appearances from the other movie Kens - Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Ncuti Gatwa and Scott Evans (who is Chris Evans’ brother, something we’re not talking enough about) - and the pure joy they infuse into the performance. The fact that Ryan Gosling is wearing sunglasses during the entire song. The flawless vocals. Extra guitar riffs from Slash. Greta Gerwig, Margot Robbie and America Ferrera brought to the front row to sing along. Ryan Gosling passing the mic to Emma Stone (I gasped). Kissing the hand of the camera operator during the line “put that manly hand in mine.”
Despite the fact that Barbie’s initial press tour was cut short during the summer, Ryan Gosling maximized every opportunity to display his Ken-ergy over the last two years. It all started with his appearance on Jimmy Fallon back in 2022, where Gosling talked about his initial reluctance to play the role and the real-life encounter with a Ken doll that changed his mind. In every appearance since Gosling has leaned into the ridiculousness of his character. All of this culminated on Oscar night with a suitably dramatic send-off for Ken. Vanity Fair has a wonderful deep dive into the creative process, helmed by Gosling himself, to put the performance together. Yes, it was his idea to create an homage to Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend. The next day? Gosling is already leaning into the fun behind promoting his next film, The Fall Guy, which I absolutely cannot wait to see.
Ryan Gosling’s dry sense of humor and commitment to his roles isn’t new. His unique charm, of course, predates the Ken of it all. It just seems like the world is finally recognizing his star power. Given the buzz, it’s only right to look back at four fundamental Gosling projects that led us to this moment:
Ryan Gosling, dancing: To be fair, he does this a lot. But I’m specifically referring to his humble beginnings, where he steals the show with some sort of dance troupe. Why say more, when you can watch for yourself (around the 3:30 minute mark).
Crazy, Stupid, Love: While the Internet freaked out about the La La Land connection, when Ryan Gosling passed the mic to Emma Stone during I’m Just Ken, my thoughts immediately went to Crazy, Stupid, Love. From dropping hilarious one-liners to pick up women at bars to counseling Steve Carrell to using Dirty Dancing to seduce Emma Stone to fist-fighting Kevin Bacon, Ryan Gosling shines in every single scene of this movie.
The Nice Guys: I finally watched this 2016 comedy for the first time last week and it far exceeded my expectations, thanks to Gosling’s hilarious performance as a deadbeat detective who periodically exclaims “Jesus!” in a high-pitched voice when something scares him. There are too many amazing line readings and physical gags to repeat and I wouldn’t dare spoil them here for those of you who have also missed out on this movie.
La La Land: Emma Stone is understandably the more talked about performance when you think of Damien Chazelle’s 2016 musical. Ryan Gosling gets relegated to memes about his character’s obsession with jazz. But the movie doesn’t work without Gosling there to balance it out with natural musical-infused movements, subtle humor and reluctant charm. This is on full display in one of my favorite scenes, when Mia and Sebastian meet again at a party.
Pop culture highlights from the week:
Guts (spilled): Olivia Rodrigo released an extended edition of her sophomore album on Friday, appropriately titled Guts (spilled). Each song is strong in its own right, but Obsessed, about a woman’s fixation on her boyfriend’s ex, and So American, her first ever love song (rumored to be about current boyfriend Louis Partridge), are my personal favorites.
Mandy Moore on Las Culturistas: Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers’s podcast, Las Culturistas, is a treat to listen to every Wednesday. But this week’s episode was especially fun, because it featured special guest Mandy Moore, who is a genuine long time listener of the podcast. Sometimes people pretend they’re regular podcast listeners but Mandy isn’t one of those fakers. Throughout the 90-minute episode, she’s clearly familiar with the show’s regular segments and calls out Matt Rogers’ obsession with Selena Gomez’s Single Soon (which he has discussed several times during past podcasts). Still not convinced? After the Matt and Bowen gushed about her on a past Las Culturistas installment, Mandy Moore posted a video on her Instagram (recorded in her car) reacting to the episode on the day it was released. That’s a true fan.
Wicked: The world is finally starting to a glimpse of what the reimagined movie production of Wicked will look like. And I’m getting more excited with every peek behind the curtain. Will I undoubtedly get too excited and wind up disappointed? Probably! But that’s the way of the pop culture world, and I have no choice but to hop on board and take this ride. This week Vanity Fair released an “Inside Wicked” article, featuring some excellent pictures of the cast in full costume. Probably the most important tidbit revealed in the profile? The stars are singing live in the movie, not lip-synching to pre-recorded tracks. A lot of the Internet expressed outrage at this decision, citing the movie adaption of Les Misérables as a reason why this is a mistake. But I disagree. Les Mis was badly directed and featured several actors who, um, can’t sing. If you have people who can deliver on a live performance, use it. Pre-recorded tracks can lead to hollow performances on screen. One of my very favorite musical adaptions ever, Tick, Tick… Boom! leans on live singing for several of its musical moments and is stronger because of it. If used and filmed properly, this could be a very positive move for Wicked.
