“No one knows how hard I tried, oh, I have feelings I can’t explain / And I’m great at doing stuff” – From ‘I’m Just Ken’, Barbie: The Album
Ryan Gosling is a convict-turned-badass spy in this action flick by the Russo Brothers. His character, who goes by the pseudonym Sierra Six, finds himself embroiled in a mission beset with betrayals and kidnappings. Six is a resourceful and highly-skilled assassin who, despite his dark past, is bent on doing the right thing. Hard as it is to believe, Ryan Gosling’s Ken-connection (Kennection?) predates his involvement in the Barbie universe. There is a moment in the film when the antagonist Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans), who is desperate to capture Six, declares to his team of mercenaries, “Extra ten million to the first guy to put a bullet in this Ken Doll’s brain.” Gosling had, in fact, not yet been cast in Barbie when this line was written. “It was great timing,” said co-director Joe Russo in an interview. “But we’d like to say that we encouraged Ryan to embrace his Kenergy. We’re expecting a real Kennaisance.”