‘I’m Just Ken’ Was Almost Cut From Barbie, But Greta Gerwig Saved It At Last Minute

No one could have predicted the impact that the Barbie movie would have on popular culture, becoming the biggest movie of 2023.

There are many reasons why it became such a smashing success, and in addition to the compelling story, nice acting and release on the same day as Christopher Nolan 's Oppenheimer, memorable musical sequences are among them.

Arguably the best song, and one that particularly resonated with the male part of the audience, is "I'm just Ken," performed by Ryan Gosling, which tells the story of Ken's struggle with living in the shadow of Barbie.

Considering that the film's creators have already launched a campaign for the film to be considered for the upcoming 2024 Academy Awards, the song has a pretty good chance of at least being nominated in the Best Original Song category.

However, it seems that the entire sequence could have been cut from the script altogether if not for director Greta Gerwig's dedication to preserving her original vision of the film.

During her recent appearance at the BFI London Film Festival, Gerwig revealed that the phrase "dream ballet" used to describe the sequence in the script caused some confusion.

There was an entire meeting where she had to insist on keeping the scene and explain what "dream ballet" even meant, but she stood her ground, which turned out to be a great decision in the long run.

The director also mentioned that the big inspiration for the sequence was the iconic 1952 musical romantic comedy Singin' in the Rain, which features a similar scene and helped bring her idea to life.

As mentioned above, "I'm just Ken" became the most memorable musical sequence in the movie, so she is undoubtedly very proud of herself, and rightly so.

If the movie is nominated for several Academy Awards, including the Best Original Screenplay category, as its creators planned, its impact on the film industry will be even more significant, although it is unclear whether the film will be approved.

Fans have already pointed out that while the story is original, it's still based on a pre-existing brand, putting it in a similar position to 2017's Logan and 2019's Joker, which were nominated in the Best Adapted Screenplay category.

As for Greta Gerwig's next project, the filmmaker hasn't announced any details yet, but she is already working on the script and the process is giving her "recurring nightmares."

Source: Variety