After Ryan Gosling crushed his “I’m Just Ken” performance at the Oscars, producer Molly McNearney (wife of Jimmy Kimmel, who hosted the ceremony) spoke to Variety about the process. “Ryan Gosling is a true professional … we met with him on Zooms months ago, talking about that performance,” she said. “Greta Gerwig weighed in creatively as well. He was so committed to it.”
McNearney went on to say that Gosling himself concocted the performance’s overall vibe — including the references to classic films like “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” (specifically the track “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend”) and Busby Berkeley dance numbers … and the actor also decided to include his collaborators Mark Ronson and Slash (the famous guitarist plays guitar on the original track). Not only that, but the rehearsal period was extremely brief. Speaking to The New York Times, choreographer Mandy Moore — who worked on “La La Land” with Gosling and created the dance numbers for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour — said they only had a handful of rehearsals to make the number happen. When the outlet asked where it ranked amongst her biggest career challenges, Moore said, “It was definitely up there with ‘La La Land’ and the Eras Tour” — which is shocking when you consider that “I’m Just Ken” is under five minutes long.