Ryan Gosling Reveals Why His and Eva Mendes' Daughters Haven't Seen Barbie Movie

Ryan Gosling is not ready show his kids just how Kenough he is.

The Barbie actor revealed that while his and Eva Mendes' daughters Esmerelda, 9, and Amada, 7, helped him prep for his role as Ken, they haven't seen the movie just yet.

"I don't know if you should watch your father as Ken," Ryan exclusively told E! News at the 2024 Santa Barbara International Film Festival. "I don't know what age is a good age to see your father do that. It gets pretty crazy."

However, his daughters got an inside look when they visited him on set, as he noted, "They've seen little parts of it and they came to set one day when I did a big musical number."

In fact, their love for Barbie was a factor in him taking on the role.

"I knew that they loved it because they kept saying at first, 'Hey, can we go to Target?'" he recalled. "And we go to Target, and then they'd slowly go by the Barbie aisle. And my wife and I sort of realized, 'OK, I think it's time to let them have Barbies.' And no interest in Ken, which was pretty interesting, too."

So, he feels that making Barbie "was a way to sort of make something both for and with them."

He'd also love to make something for and with Eva once again, considering they first shared the screen in 2012's The Place Beyond the Pines.

Telling E! News he wants to costar with her in the future, Ryan gushed, "That was the greatest experience I had making a film, so I hope so."

Ryan, 43, and Eva, 49, are a notoriously private pair when it comes to their home life, but the actor had a very sweet message for his partner while accepting the Kirk Douglas Award for Excellence in Film at the Jan. 13 event, noting that making movies gave him the life he has now.

"I got to meet the girl of my dreams, Eva Mendes," he said on stage. "I have two dream children. I dreamed of one day making movies and now movies have made my life a dream. So the way I see it, there's no way I've contributed half as much to cinema as cinema has contributed to me."

Eva hasn't been shy about sharing how proud she is of her husband during his awards run for Barbie. The actress posted a screenshot of the actor after "I'm Just Ken" won Best Original Song at the 2024 Critics Choice Awards, writing, "I LOVE HIM!!!!"

—Reporting by Alex Cramer