There’s no better way to load up on “Kenergy” than to pump iron with Ken himself.
That’s the observation made by Simu Liu in the latest issue of Men’s Health, who described the experience of working out alongside co-star and fellow Canadian Ryan Gosling while shooting “Barbie”.
“It was just like, let’s work out, because that’s what I think ‘Kenergy’ is about. Kens would really care about that,” Liu explained.
“So, just as an excuse to bring us all together and get us doing man things, Greta put us in a gym together, and we worked out every day leading up to the start of principal photography. And it was really fun,” he continued.
“Ryan was the best inspiration, because he was the most disciplined. I could not beat Ryan to the gym,” Liu added. “He was always there earlier than me and he always stayed later. It just speaks to the discipline that this guy has, and I think it really pays off in the movie. He’s got a couple scenes where you get to see a bit of that Ken body, and it’s pretty shredded.”
Gosling’s discipline, Liu pointed out, extended beyond the gym.
“Ryan is such a natural improviser, and he improvises in so many different ways, sometimes with words, but also he could say the exact same words on a script but in totally different and fresh and exciting ways,” he recalled.
“It just really forced anybody playing opposite him to be fully present, and to listen. Because if you didn’t, you might miss something really incredible he was doing that would give you then, like, something to react off of or respond to, and I think that’s when acting is the least stale and the most exciting — when neither person goes into a scene fully knowing what’s going to happen,” Liu said. “And with Ryan, I never knew what was gonna happen. That’s what both excited and scared me the most.”
READ MORE: ‘Barbie’ Star Simu Liu Poses With His Very Own Ken Doll: ‘Whoa’
“Barbie” hits theatres on July 21.
