Ryan Gosling Pushed For A Wild Ken Fight That Never Made The Final Cut

As Greta Gerwig told Stephen Colbert during that same interview, being on-set on “Barbie” was quite playful, and the reason anyone came up with a mink dance duet is because the process was so collaborative. “Even though it didn’t end up being in the movie, it was that kind of openness and everybody bringing such brilliant, wild ideas that allowed it to happen in its form,” she said. “So we had a fun week exploring what it would be if he did his mink ballet.”

So why does Ken don a mink coat after he travels to the real world and realizes that patriarchy elevates men there, as opposed to Barbie Land, which is a matriarchal structure until he starts meddling? According to Gerwig, she and Ryan Gosling worked closely together and sent each other photos as inspiration for the character, and some of those photos were of “Rocky” star Sylvester Stallone. For his part, Stallone loves a good mink, and there are even a few cheeky photos included in a montage within “Barbie” as Ken discovers the patriarchy. So it’s very clear that Gerwig and Gosling wanted to pay tribute to a man known to rock a giant mink coat.