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Another awards season has come and gone. And with that, some actors are back to work. After the Oscars, Ryan Gosling headed out to SXSW for the premiere of his new movie The Fall Guy (more on that in Kismet’s coverage here). While there, Ryan gave People some more behind-the-scenes info about his awesome performance of “I’m Just Ken,” which brought the house down. We know that Eva Mendes was backstage to support Ryan at some point because she posted pictures to Instagram. I’ve been trying to find an official confirmation as to whether or not Eva was there during the actual ceremony. I suspect, though, based on her clothing and caption telling him to come home and “put the kids to bed,” that the pictures were taken at the final dress rehearsal.
This may be as close to a confirmation that we’re going to get, but during his interview, Ryan told People that Eva and his daughters sat in the front row at a dress rehearsal the day before the ceremony. They also gave him plenty of notes on his performance. Eva and Ryan have two daughters together, Esmeralda Amada, nine, and Amada Lee, seven.
Speaking exclusively to PEOPLE at the world premiere of The Fall Guy at SXSW in Austin on Tuesday, Gosling, 43, opened up about how he got some crucial advice from his long-term partner Eva Mendes and their daughters Esmeralda Amada, 9, and Amada Lee, 7, ahead of the show.
“It was great,” the Barbie star tells PEOPLE. “It was so fun because they came to the dress rehearsal the day before and so they were in the front row. ”
“They gave me some tips and some notes, all great notes,” he continues. “They are such a huge part of this for me…it was my girl’s interest in Barbie and disinterest in Ken that got me into this in the first place. It was beautiful to have them there at the end.”
Gosling stole the show at the 96th Academy Awards on Sunday with his live performance of “I’m Just Ken” which lost out to the Billie Eilish song “What Was I Made For?” for the award of Best Original Song.
The actor was accompanied by song co-writer Mark Ronson, Wolfgang Van Halen, Slash and a group of men dressed in suits and cowboy hats for the performance — including his fellow ‘Kens’ Scott Evans, Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir and Ncuti Gatwa.
Reacting to a video of Martin Scorsese vibing to the performance inside the Dolby Theatre on Sunday, Mendes, 50, later wrote that the Instagram re-post by Francesca Scorsese’s was “the best video ever.”
Awww, that’s so sweet and great that they got to come and watch the dress rehearsal. I wonder if friends at school have talked to them about Barbie and if that’s piqued their interest in it more or less, lol. Ryan has talked about how his daughters influenced and inspired him to play Ken, particularly when he realized that they loved their Barbies, but didn’t care so much about Ken (he was always number two). So it’s a nice ending to his journey as Ken that they would also be there to support him and give him some last-minute tips and pointers. What a nice little full circle moment for the Mendes-Goslings.
Photos credit: Jennifer Bloc/Future Image/Cover Images, IMAGO/Jennifer Bloc / Avalon and Getty
I’m so glad he’s getting the accolades he deserves! Ryan went full throttle & unabashedly Ken and hit it out of the park
Ryan Gosling is a class act! I really enjoyed his performance at the Oscars and now, having read that Eva and the kids watched and gave him great notes at the dress rehearsal, it warms my heart to hear that he listened to what women had to say about it.
I was visiting the city (some of?) Barbie was filmed at in Australia and got caught in an Uber with a guy who worked security on set. He said Ryan, Eva and the girls were a super tight little unit and just the happiest and bubbliest family. He said they were both hilarious and seemed very much in love- he would not hear a bad word against them! The dress rehearsal feedback sounds extremely cute.
awwww, that sounds lovely 🙂
@SAS Barbie was filmed in UK on a WB soundstage. And in Venice Beach, CA.
Oh, it must have been during the promo tour then?
Ryan Gosling didn’t win an Oscar but he won The Oscar’s
^^^^ This!!!
@lightpurple Exactly! He stole the entire show!
Barbie saved the Oscar’s, I’m convinced that’s why it had the highest ratings in years. No one was tuning in to see Oppen people winning awards
I have watched that performance soo many times – gets better every time. He really gave that performance it all just like he did with his performance in the movie and with the promotion. I loved the movie but he did steal the show – he hammed it up in all the right ways.
Me too! I basically start my day with it now at this point. It’s become part of my routine: tea, Wordle and Ken. Then I can get to work 😀
Yea he killed it and all Hollywood knows it. That is balls.
Oh lord I thought I was getting weird(er) in my old age over my obsession with I’m Just Ken. It’s a constant ear worm in my head! I can’t stop watching the Oscar’s version, the movie version, and the promo version. 🤩 And that comment from Australia about what a tight knit and happy family they are made me so happy especially after the sour baby trapping comments from a previous post.
He definitely won the Oscars! I’ve had “I’m just Ken’ in my head since Sunday. I’m so glad they have a happy family unit and Ryan is getting recognized for his range. Go watch The Nice Guys if you haven’t yet.
They should do a Ken musical staring Gosling of course. He has poured his heart and soul into it.
They heard all the whispers about why Eva was not on the Red carpet with him I guess. I do find it strange at this point. We all know they are together we have seen them out and about and on Social Media . They can do as they please its not hurting anyone for them not be public on the red-carpet