Barbie | July 21, 2023 | Warner Bros | Margot Robbie is Barbie. Ryan Gosling is Ken. | Taking down Deathly Hallows 2 to be WB's biggest movie ever

[Eric Duncan]

Who goes to a Barbie movie for the sex appeal?

[excel1]

Margot Robbie's entire fanbase is based on sex appeal. A star was born the second she walked out of the room in wolf of wall street.

Edited October 25, 2021 by excel1

[filmlover]

16 minutes ago, excel1 said:

They'll get more buzz out of dolling up Josh Hartnett or Ashton Kutcher and making it their comeback movie than casting Ryan Gosling.

 

 

 

You might as well add Ryan Phillippe and Taylor Kitsch to the mix while you're at it if you're gonna toss a "Generic White Dudes Hollywood Once Upon a Time Tried to Convince Us Would Be the Next Tom or Brad or Leo" casting list out there.

[Ronin46]

Never in my lifetime would I have thought I was going to watch a Barbie movie. God Bless Mericah.

[BestPicturePlutoNash]

I don't think a Warner Bros Barbie movie directed by a 3 time Oscar nominated filmmaker coming off a 100m hit co-written by a 3 time Oscar nominated director starring a 2 time Oscar nominated actor is going to need buzz because they cast... a 2 time Oscar nominated actor. Gosling is a popular actor and his news was well-received online. There's probably something subversive going on with the film anyway. He is definitely still popular with 20-30 year olds lol

[babz06]

Ryan Gosling is popular with women, which is the target fanbase for this film anyway. 

[excel1]

30 minutes ago, filmlover said:

 

 

 

You might as well add Ryan Phillippe and Taylor Kitsch to the mix while you're at it if you're gonna toss a "Generic White Dudes Hollywood Once Upon a Time Tried to Convince Us Would Be the Next Tom or Brad or Leo" casting list out there.

 

To be fair, Ryan Gosling is firmly on that list too and at least Josh Hartnett and Ashton Kutcher were actually popular in their day. They were also 100x more famous than Taylor Kitsch or Ryan Phillippe ever were. Hartnett was on Yahoos front page when he was Wrath of Man earlier this year and Kutcher definitely still has some fans out there. Josh Duhamel was famousish but never really had a fanbase like the first 2 did once upon a time. A comeback movie is at least angle and both of those guys are people women will look at and find attractive. Nobody cares, or ever cared, really, about Ryan Gosling. It's true. His box office track record is largely terrible. To an 22 year old girl, he is a plain Jane nobody. He brings nothing to the table here. 

 

This is if they want to go older, which to me is baffling altogether. If I were the producer, it would be younger actor with appeal to the tiktok generation ala Jacob Elordi. 

Edited October 25, 2021 by excel1

[babz06]

47 minutes ago, excel1 said:

 

I know many straight women who love the guy including my wife, and they're all over 30 and won't be seeing this movie either way. How many 18-20 year girls are out there oogling Ryan Gosling? Zero. If you're going to go with an older, more established actor, they need to 100% look the part in the eyes of the younger crowd.

 

This is just reality and I am sure many producers know this. Gosling isn't a box office draw to begin with, and his sex appeal is basically limited to women who remember The Notebook back in 2004. His fanbase aged out in the early 2010s - shortly after his peak in 2011's Crazy Stupid Love -  and it frankly shows on his box office record aside from La La Land. First Man, Gangster Squad, The Nice Guys - he isn't a draw. 

 

 It is a straight up financial decision. You need a male version of Margot Robbie and he certainly isn't that. If you're going to go older, more established route, they need to look the part. They'll get more buzz out of dolling up Josh Hartnett or Ashton Kutcher and making it their comeback movie than casting Ryan Gosling.

Ashton Kutcher and Josh harnett? lmao when's the last time either one lead a film? This isn't 1999. Gosling is just fine. 

[excel1]

8 minutes ago, babz06 said:

Ashton Kutcher and Josh harnett? lmao when's the last time either one lead a film? This isn't 1999. Gosling is just fine. 

 

Thinking of actors who actually resemble the Ken doll similar to how Robbie is a clone of the barbie doll as with the roll, the way they actually looking will matter greatly. Gosling is way off. Kutcher and Hartnett might not be as famous as they once were, but put their face on a poster dolled up as Ken doll and women will stop and stare. Nobody is stopping and starring at a poster of Goslings face, sorry. 

 

I also just checked and Hartnett is the #2 lead in Guy Ritchie/Jason Statham movie coming out next January where he plays a movie star, of all things. Kutcher is also still in the news for his distaste in bathing...

 

I def. didn't think this would generate as much conversation as it has but it really isnt arguable that Gosling is not a box officer draw whatsoever and there many, many other actors alive and working who women will find more visually appealing than him.

Edited October 25, 2021 by excel1

[filmlover]

In retrospect it's rather crazy that someone with as super limited acting range as Ashton Kutcher managed to be a somewhat major leading man for a brief moment in time. He definitely wouldn't have gotten that far in the Hollywood of today.

[Macleod]

Look, it's very simple, here.  Robbie's a producer on this, right?  They asked her "Who do you see as your Ken?"  I'm pretty sure Gosling's name came up pretty quickly.  Gosling is also just about the only guy out of all those Excel's mentioned who still has an A-list career, is reasonably critically-acclaimed, and has an affinity for the kind of work that Gerwig has done.  It's a art-commercial mix made in heaven...or so they think.  We'll see...  

 

Hey, I saw Hartnett in the great Showtime show "Penny Dreadful."  That show is phenomenal and it's one of the best thing's Hartnett's done... but there's a reason he was cast...as a werewolf!  He ain't a "Ken."

 

I can't believe we're spending pages discussing this.  🤣

[excel1]

14 minutes ago, filmlover said:

In retrospect it's rather crazy that someone with as super limited acting range as Ashton Kutcher managed to be a somewhat major leading man for a brief moment in time. He definitely wouldn't have gotten that far in the Hollywood of today.

 

Kutcher was at least somewhat funny in That 70s Show and his string of comedies, but he became equally famous as a clown personally with Punkd and it made him difficult to take seriously when he tried. Ryan Phillippe and Freddie Prince Jr. had their moments too but Josh Hartnett won the "next big actor" contest of that generation when Bruckheimer stuck him in both Pearl Harbor (where Michael Bay filmed  himlike he was the male version of Megan Fox) and Black Hawk Down. Everybody wanted those 2 leads and they gave them to the same person planning to mold him into a brand. Hartnett famously got spooked by the tabloid culture that was busy ruining Ben Affleck's life at the time and fled home to Iowa and abandoned the path laid for him. As an actor, Hartnett suffered from midwest syndrome horribly and was low-key vibe likable without an ounce of comedic charisma. 

 

The REAL talent on young a Hollywood circa 2000 was always Heath Ledger. Even before Joker, it was clear he was on another level. Handsome and charismatic as hell. RIP. 

Edited October 25, 2021 by excel1

[excel1]

1 minute ago, Macleod said:

Hey, I saw Hartnett in the great Showtime show "Penny Dreadful."  That show is phenomenal and it's one of the best thing's Hartnett's done... but there's a reason he was cast...as a werewolf!  He ain't a "Ken."

 

Do you remember the years 2001-2003? Josh Hartnett was offered $100 million - $100 million! - to play Superman in 2003. He was the biggest teeny bopper heart throb on the planet for the time frame all thanks to Michael Bay. Hartnett has also had one of the more bizarre and fascinating career trajectories that I can think of. 

[Macleod]

Yes, of course I remember that.  And he turned it down.  Because he himself knows he ain't that guy.  

[excel1]

10 minutes ago, Macleod said:

Yes, of course I remember that.  And he turned it down.  Because he himself knows he ain't that guy.  

 

He is more that guy than Ryan Gosling, as is Ashton Kutcher. A financially minded producer should realize how this persons face looks on a billboard next to Margot Robbies flawless stone structure matters more than any awards they were recently nominated for. 

 

Is Gosling really an A-lister...?

Edited October 25, 2021 by excel1

[Last Man Standing]

I cannot believe this is becoming a Ryan Gosling hate thread. The guy starred in multiple super popular romances, women love him.

[filmlover]

Gosling is pretty much as A-list as anyone these days (multiple Oscar nominee with a handful of iconic movies/roles who has built up a reputation as one of the most reliable actors of today) and brings a lot more to a project like this than someone like Josh Hartnett, who even during the brief time Hollywood tried to make him a thing always came across as a flash in the pan who was never going to give Leo any competition in the quest for an Oscar (and who was wise to show himself out before the industry could have the chance to do it for him), ever could. 

[Eric Duncan]

Guys...it's a Barbie movie. The six-year-olds that will drag their parents to this will not care about how "sexy" Ryan Gosling is as Ken. And honestly excel, your obsession over the casting of this movie for six-year-old girls is extremely weird.

[Last Man Standing]

3 minutes ago, Eric Atreides said:

Guys...it's a Barbie movie. The six-year-olds that will drag their parents to this will not care about how "sexy" Ryan Gosling is as Ken. And honestly excel, your obsession over the casting of this movie for six-year-old girls is extremely weird.

I really doubt Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach are gonna make a movie aimed at children. This is almost certainly gonna be satire aimed at adults.

[BestPicturePlutoNash]

It’ll probably be PG-13 with appeal across children and teens and enough edge and wit for adults. Bigger budget Frances Ha/Mistress America