Simu Liu reveals painful experience to play character 0:53
(CNN) — Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” film won’t be in cinemas for a year.
So thank goodness for a clip from the film that Warner Bros. premieres on Wednesday before an unsuspecting audience: a photo of Ryan Gosling as Ken, Barbie’s tanned, toned plastic boyfriend. (CNN and Warner Bros. Pictures share parent company Warner Bros. Discovery.)
Gosling fans, moviegoers, and the occasional Twitter user have had a deep reaction to the picture of the Canadian actor, who stars in the ‘Barbie’ movie opposite Margot Robbie. This is the first official picture of Gosling as the character that rose to fame in the toy department.
#BARBIE
July 21, 2023
Only in theatres. pic.twitter.com/DAemOyv5H8— Warner Bros. Pictures (@wbpictures) June 15, 2022
According to the photo, Gosling has transformed into the quintessential Ken: his skin is tinted orange and he shows off eight abs and bleached blonde hair. His boxer shorts are inexplicably emblazoned with his own name, and he wears a sleeveless denim vest and shirtless shirt against a pink Pepto Bismol background. His Ken is a Malibu boy through and through.
But story-wise, the photo is all we have (plus a photo of Robbie posing in a pink convertible). Will Barbie get tired of shirtless Ken? Will Ken prove to his beloved Barb that there’s more to him than an absurd amount of muscle? Or will Ken conspire against Barbie and become the villain of her story?
Margot Robbie’s Barbie, specially photographed without her boyfriend Ken.
The sizable cast adds to the mystery of what the film might be: it includes comedians like Issa Rae and Will Ferrell, as well as rising stars like Hari Nef and Ncuti Gatwa. It is rumored that some of the many cast members will be playing alternate versions of Barbie and Ken. But will one of them be a skipper?
Fans will have to wait until the film opens on July 21, 2023 to find out what Barbie, Ken and Will Ferrell are up to.