Ryan Gosling and 62 Kens withdraw from the Oscars for 'I'm Just Ken'

Canadian actor Ryan Gosling (center) performs “I'm Just Ken” from the movie “Barbie” on stage during the 96th Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, California on March 10, 2024.

Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

Even though she got a ticket to sit in the audience at the Oscars, choreographer Mandy Moore, who oversaw Sunday's rendition of “I'm Just a Kane,” couldn't help but stand in the wings and give every Kane a pep talk before… They head to the theater.

“It was just such a buzz,” Moore said of the energy behind the scenes.

the He saw the performance Barbie Movie star and Academy Award nominee Ryan Gosling, wearing a bright pink suit and cowboy hat, leads an army of 62 kens, plus his teammates. Barbie Keynes Film – Simu Liu, Nkuti Gatwa, Kingsley Ben-Adir and Scott Evans – in a dance-off in honor of Gentlemen prefer blondesincluding “Street Style Dancing,” filled the stage with cardboard cutouts of Barbie and finished with a Rockettes-style kick line.

On stage, Gosling was accompanied by “I'm Just Ken” songwriters and producers Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt, as well as guitarist Wolfgang Van Halen and Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash, who played a solo at the end.

Moore says the goal was for the audience and the television broadcast to feel like they were at a rock concert on a stage filled with “hundreds of Kanes.” (The team settled on 62 after finding that 100 wouldn't actually fit the stage.)

Moore said, A So you think you can dance Choreographer who worked with Gosling La la land And with Taylor Swift on tour for the ages. Many creative ideas originated with Gosling and director Greta Gerwig, including the decision to reference the film Marilyn Monroe, as Gosling has spoken publicly about involving co-stars and a cameraman in the show.

Moore spoke with Hollywood Reporter A day after the Oscars, we talked about how this number came together that got the Academy on its feet.

While these conversations have been going on for a while, you said you only got the green light to do this about two weeks ago. How was the training process?

It was 100 percent fast and furious. I started rehearsals with the Caines, the dancers, last Sunday, and the week before that, Ryan was doing some private singing and dancing sessions to get his voice up to speed and then his body would move as well and keep talking through some kind of overall structure with him, because he was so involved in Creativity, a lot of this came from his head and his conversations with Greta and Mark and Andrew. So my job was to make sure we could make it all happen, get it on its feet with all the people and make the vision come to life.

Were you able to practice the full number beforehand?

We ended up doing the training process in levels. So, practicing with Ryan before makes the dancers understand structure, flow and creativity. Then in my first rehearsal with Ryan and the dancers, I had 20 dancers, basically these guys who started with him on the stairs, and the guys who like to lift him up and the kindelabra man, we call him the kindelabra man, not the candelabra, who is fist bumps at the beginning. Then Ryan went away for a few days because he already had some things planned in advance, and I continued working with more dancers. Then on camera day, which was Friday, I brought in 24 more dancers to fill out the rest of the picture. Then Ryan came back and was there on camera day as well as Mark, Andrew and Wolfgang. That Thursday, I also got to meet Simu, Kingsley and Scott so I taught them some movement, but Ncuti didn't come until Friday, so he learned that on Friday. And then Slash didn't arrive until yesterday morning. So we did a tour yesterday, about mid-morning with everyone finally there, and then we went live.

So, have you only done one full round?

Yes. A lot of times, live streaming works that way, especially when you're working with people of that stature. They are A-list. They have crazy schedules, and they're on tour. I'm also very used to that in live streaming, so I have to create the number in a way that I can identify people very quickly.

How did you think about translating this number from the screen to the awards show?

What was nice was that we were moving away from the scene in the movie. Rayyan [and Greta] Obviously he took inspiration from Gentlemen prefer blondes, “Diamonds are a girl's best friend” Wait, because this look is so strong, and he's wearing a pink suit and all the other guys are wearing black, and then they tweak it a little bit with cowboy hats and instead of the candlestick women, they're wearing candlesticks and ladders. The visual is a great tribute to something so iconic.

And then, in this new version with all these guys and this different style, he wanted the language of the movement to be different as well, because in the movie, they fight during the song, but there's also a dream ballet. And so we took a 180 from that and went more street style, rugged, a little bit punk, and some social dance steps in there.

Allowing the Caines to be like rock stars was also a big deal. Greta, on our initial Zoom, she just said, My only dream is for everyone to get up and sing at the end, so, you have to create a performance that allows people to do that. And Simu had done a video before, during a commercial break, telling everyone that it's okay to get up and use your phones like you're at a rock concert.

It seems that the audience in the theater had a great response to it.

It was chaos. Ryan was so nervous, he was like, “Can't anyone stand up?” And I'm like,
“Ryan, they'll stand up. It'll be okay.” But that's a real thing, you get very nervous about that when you put something like this together, where you're basically putting on a rock concert, and if people don't stand up, it's just going to fall flat.

They started standing up almost immediately. And I love that shot of Billie Eilish and Margot laughing at the beginning, because it also allowed everyone to understand that it's okay to have fun and let loose a little. It's serious because it's really good, but you have a little fun with “I'm Just Ken.” It's a big swing for Ryan, and I really admire and respect him, because that's a big thing to perform in front of your teammates like that.

Who was the decision to include Margot Robbie, Greta Gerwig, America Ferrera, and Emma Stone in the issue?

It was definitely Ryan and me. We looked at the Oscars seating and producers, but Ryan really led the way, saying, “I really want to make sure I put Margot in front of me and Greta and America.” And then when we saw the seating area, I was like, 'Emma's over there. Why don't you go to these three first' — because he was like, 'I just need to respect these ladies. They're amazing. 'They're the main reason I'm here' — and then I was like, 'I just need to respect these ladies. They're amazing.' Why don't you do the second thing for Emma?” It's there. It would be a good little Easter egg for everyone. I've done a lot of movies with her.

What about Ryan's decision to hold the photographer's hand at the end?

We were in rehearsal. And, you know, he was like, “Okay, I'm going to jump down. We're going to Greta, Margot, America, and then I'm going to go here with Emma.” And he was like, “I think I should hold the photographer's hand, and we should see the photographer because he's also Ken.” And I was like, “Yes, that's a good idea.” “I'll take him to the theater,” he says. Then he will be a part of it and can film our last personal moments. And I said, “Yes, please,” because you're breaking the fourth wall. You're using the photographer as an audience, right? It's like you're bringing the audience up. And that was a big part for Ryan as well. He just wanted to feel like he was inviting all his friends to the party. I thought it was an inspiring moment. He's like, 'I'm going to kiss his hand. Can you make sure he's cool if I kiss his hand?' And I was like, 'Yes, I'm going to make sure he's cool.' And he was so cool.

It sounds like you also had a lot of input from the entire film team.

Yes, Mark, Ryan, Andrew and the Oscars team. That's what I think is interesting about the Oscars is that these different teams are coming together to celebrate this movie, but for a television broadcast. It's a really great collaboration when things go right. I think it's really cool, because you have a lot of very creative people coming together to make something. And there's this kind of weird passing, where you take the baton from the people who made the movie, including Jennifer White, who was the original choreographer. I created something for the movie that was definitely the foundation for what we created and what we put on stage for the Oscars. Without those characters and bodies moving the way they did in the movie, we wouldn't have gotten what we got at the Oscars last night.