Ryan Gosling took the Oscars stage to perform the “I’m Just Ken” from the Warner Bros. film Barbie. Watch the performance in the video above.
Gosling brought the house down at the Dolby Theater, where everyone was encouraged to sing along with song lyrics playing on big screens.
The actor walked through the audience and let director Greta Gerwig, America Ferrera, and Margot Robbie sing a couple of words, with Gosling’s La La Land co-star Emma Stone sneaking in there as well.
Related Stories
Gosling’s number at the Oscars was an homage to Marilyn Monroe’s musical number for “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend” from the 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
The song, co-written by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt, is nominated in the Best Original Song category alongside fellow film song “What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell.
Gosling is nominated for an Oscar in the Best Supporting Actor category for his portrayal of Beach Ken in the Greta Gerwig-directed film.
Ronson recently revealed that the “I’m Just Ken” song almost didn’t make it into the film’s final cut following screenings to studio executives.
“At that first screening the song wasn’t working. I panicked,” Ronson told The Times of London recently. “The humour wasn’t translating and Greta [Gerwig, director] had to fight. The studio asked her how much she really needed it and she said, ‘With every inch of my body.’ And then there was a big swing.”
Ronson also opened up about what inspired the Oscar-nominated song, saying, “It is the 1970s, the book Elton and Bernie wrote. A piano ballad that is sort of proggy and a bit 1980s too. A bit Handbags and Gladrags. Or it could be Robbie Williams… Maybe I’m just overdramatic.”
