If you were losing it in the theater watching Ryan Gosling turn the Kenergy up to 11 in the Barbie movie during his showstopper power balled “I’m Just Ken,” just wait until you see how director Greta Gerwig felt while watching her star ham it up on the beach.
In a behind-the-scenes video chronicling the “Just Ken” shoot that dropped on Monday morning (Aug. 21), fans of the billion-dollar summer blockbuster not only get some bonus, unreleased footage from the film featuring the Barbie cast, but they also get a look at film soundtrack producer Mark Ronson in the studio, along with “Just Ken” co-writer/co-producer Andrew Wyatt and Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash.
The best part, however, is watching Gerwig watch Gosling and absolutely lose it.
The nearly four-minute clip opens with a shirtless Gosling crooning his doll parts lament, “It doesn’t seen to matter what I do/ I’m always No. 2/ No one knows how hard I try,” over a plaintive piano. A montage then moves to a scene of dancers limbering up for their big musical number, Gerwig giving Gosling some direction and a look at the build for the paddle board beach assault scene.
As Gosling croons about “blonde fragility,” Gerwig can’t help but laugh out loud, with the camera repeatedly cutting to the director — wearing a pair of pink headphones around he neck, naturally — losing it as her star prances across the green screen sand in his full length fur coat.
Along the way we also see Slash in the studio cutting his solo and the song’s co-producers/co-writers Wyatt and Ronson laying down keyboard and guitar parts for the power ballad that also features rhythm guitar from Wolfgang Van Halen and drums from new Foo Fighter’s timekeeper Josh Freese.
Plus, you get an exclusive look at the rehearsals for the big beach blowout dance battle between Ken and his arch rival Ken 2 (Simu Liu).
Gosling scored his first Billboard Hot 100 charting song with “Just Ken” two weeks ago when the song debuted at No. 87 on the tally. To date the movie has grossed more than $567 million in the U.S. and over $1.2 billion worldwide.
Watch the “I’m Just Ken” behind-the-scenes video below.
This story originally appeared on Billboard
