What are people going to say was the highlight of the 2024 Academy Awards in 20 years? Oppenheimer winning Best Picture? Anatomy of a Fall MVP (most valuable puppy) Messi clapping his paws? The Godzilla toys? Those were good, but I think the Oscars moment that future us is going to remember the most fondly is the “I’m Just Ken” performance. The joy on Margot Robbie’s face was the delight everyone at home felt when handsome goofball Ryan Gosling came out in an all-pink outfit to sing the Barbie powder ballad.
But according to co-star Simu Liu, it was almost a total disaster.
On Thursday’s episode of Live with Kelly and Mark, the actor was asked about staging “I’m Just Ken” in front of the Hollywood elite. “To do it with like Robert Downey Jr. and Emma Stone in the front row, Cillian Murphy… that’s just a little added layer of, you know, you’re not performing to an audience that’s just happy to see a show. They’re like the greatest entertainers on the face of the earth,” he said, according to Decider. “So yeah, you’re like OK, I shouldn’t mess this up.”
Liu revealed the singers, dancers, band, etc. had “shockingly little” time to put the performance together. There was a Saturday dress rehearsal, “and then we were supposed to go home, get a good night sleep, and go to the Oscars well-rested,” he said. “And the run-through went so poorly that they called us in and they were like, you have to come in on Sunday.”
As in, the day of the Oscars.
“I didn’t even know there was a hotel attached,” he added. “And obviously it’s like a big operation with myself and my date and all of our grooming and styling. So we had to move everything to the hotel. And then I ran downstairs, went to rehearse, came back up, had eight minutes to get ready for the Oscars — you know, to do the actual red carpet — and you know, we made it work.”
Gosling should be required to perform a song at every Oscars from now on. Who do you want to see singing “Defying Gravity”: Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, or Ryan Gosling and another Ryan Gosling? Exactly.
(Via Decider)