Ryan Gosling to play Ken in Greta Gerwig's Barbie movie

Stepping into a role previously performed by Michael Keaton (in Toy Story 4) and also millions of hard dead lumps of plastic, Ryan Gosling is reportedly in final negotiations to take on the part of Ken. You know: Ken. This guy:

Per Deadline, Gosling has stepped into the part of the anatomically ambiguous doll—full name Kenneth Sean Carson, Wikipedia insistently informs us—on behalf of Greta Gerwig. Gerwig has been assembling a Barbie movie for a few months now, most notably by dressing Margot Robbie up as the iconic doll herself. Gerwig also co-wrote the script for the film with Noah Baumbach, officially giving this Barbie movie a better pedigree than the vast majority of Barbie-based film projects we can think of in Hollywood history.

(With apologies to the nearly 40 films in the Barbie animated film series to date, including Barbie: Video Game Hero and Barbie: Dolphin Magic. And to the various Barbie social media accounts, which have taken interesting steps in recent years to push back on some of the franchise’s past messaging in favor of inclusivity and diversity. There’s a lot of Barbie out there at this point, is what we’re saying.)

Producers on the film were apparently bound and determined to get Gosling for the project, which is either very flattering or very insulting, depending on how you look at it. The actor reportedly turned the part down at first, but was convinced to take on the role after his schedule shifted.

All of which leads us to the strange scenario of being genuinely curious to see a Barbie movie, which is something we weren’t necessarily expecting to declare this year. The movie is currently aiming to start filming some time in 2022; details on the plot are currently being kept firmly in the box.