The actor opened up to ET about his slew of exciting upcoming projects.
Ryan Gosling is going from deadly spy to literal boy toy, and the actor is super excited for fans to see his range in his hotly anticipated upcoming projects.
The celebrated star sat down with ET's Lauren Zima while promoting his new action thriller The Gray Man, and he ended up sharing some fun teases about his forthcoming role in the Barbie movie -- and how his character in The Gray Man compared to playing the tan, roller-blading Ken.
"What I didn't realize was just how many people it takes to make an action hero," Gosling said of his high-octane role in the spy thriller, in which he stars opposite Chris Evans. "It looks like it’s me doing all those things, and yes, I do some of it, but we had an incredible stunt team, and an incredible special effects team."
In The Gray Man, Gosling stars as Court Gentry, a CIA mercenary who goes rogue when he uncovers dirt on the agency. He must run for his life as a team of government hitmen -- led by the psychopathic Lloyd Hansen (Evans) -- hunt him across the globe.
"It was a very physical role, so there was a lot of [preparing and working out], and, you know, it was just a physical challenge in every way," Gosling explained.
In the movie, Evans' character (almost prophetically) refers to Gosling's character as a "Ken doll," which Gosling jokingly said "is not an insult at all! I’m proud of that."
"I have that Ken-ergy that you can feel, obviously," Gosling joked.
Fans have been getting revved up for his role as Ken in the forthcoming Greta Gerwig-directed Barbie film, starring Margot Robbie as the titular Barbie. Set photos have shown off the bright colors and retro wardrobes from different scenes in the film, but Gosling teased, "That's nothing."
"I can’t wait for people to see the film," he marveled. "That's all I can say, otherwise Mattel will come in and box me up."
While he's "excited" for people to see his role in Barbie, Gosling had nothing but unmitigated praise for The Gray Man -- which marks his first film role since playing Neil Armstrong in 2018's First Man.
"You know, I always wanted to make an action film, because they made me fall in love with movies," Gosling said, explaining why he joined The Gray Man. "It just took me a long time to find the right one, you know?"
"[This movie] is like the films I grew up loving. It has like the '80s and '90s action films [vibe], it’s fun, the character's [have a] sense of humor about the situations. It's an escapist movie," Gosling shared. "And I really liked the character. It was like a spy who doesn't want to be a spy, who rather be at home watching Netflix like the rest of us. You know, he doesn’t want to have anything to do with this, but he has to. So it made an interesting life, and it made him an interesting character to play."
The Gray Man hits theaters July 15, and is starts streaming on Netflix on July 22.
RELATED CONTENT:
