Watch Ryan Gosling's 'Confused' Reaction To 'Barbie' Win At Critics Choice Awards

A neck twice as long and six inches thinner than the average woman. Check.

A six-inch ankle resulting in walking on all fours. Check.

Legs that are 50% longer than the arms. Double check.

With body measurements like this, you'd be forgiven for thinking it'd be near impossible to find an actress capable of embodying Barbie in a live-action film about the doll's life, let alone execute the cinematic project.

But it comes as no surprise that Oscar-nominated actress Margot Robbie stepped up to play the iconic character, and joined forces with some very familiar faces to bring the narrative alive.

Here's everything you need to know about the Barbie film:

What awards has Barbie won so far?

Unsurprisingly Barbie has won countless awards in recent weeks since its release last year. At the Golden Globes in January, the film earned the first-ever Golden Globe award for cinematic and box office achievement.

'Thank you to everybody, all the Barbies and Kens in front of and behind the screen. It was the greatest, most joyful show of craftsmanship and passion I’ve ever seen,' Gerwig said, accepting the award alongside the film’s producers and actors Margot Robbie, America Ferrera and Ryan Gosling.

While Gosling might have lost out in the Best Supporting category to Oppenheimer's Robert Downey Jr at the Critics Choice Awards on Sunday, January 14, he ended up winning Best Song for 'I’m Just Ken', much to his surprise.

After The Last of Us' Bella Ramsey and In the Heights actor Anthony Ramos announced the song had won the gong, the TV cameras focussed in on the actor, who looked utterly perplexed with the win, and gave us serious Ken vibes. The actor continued staring in disbelief as the song's Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt stood up to celebrate the award.

What is the Barbie film plot?

Director and former ELLE UK cover star Greta Gerwig penned the script with Marriage Story's Noah Baumbach. The film sees Ryan Gosling's, who plays Ken in the film, wanting to go on a summer adventure with Robbie's Barbie as they navigate a blossoming romance.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Robbie previously revealed that the film is going to give its audience 'the thing you didn't know you wanted'. The star - who co-runs the production company behind the film, LuckyChap Entertainment, with her husband Tom Ackerley and best friend Josey McNamara - explained to the news outlet that their Barbie project defies assumptions of the character. Producers on Barbie also included Ackerley, Mattel’s Robbie Brenner; and David Heyman from Heyday Films. LuckyChap’s McNamara and Mattel’s Ynon Kreiz were also executive producers.

'We like the things that feel a little left of centre,' the Wolf of Wall Street star noted. She continued by saying that she knew that for many people reading the reports it would be an '"Oh, Margot is playing Barbie, I know what that is",' but that her goal is to give fans 'something totally different—the thing you didn't know [they] wanted'.

While Robbie trusted Gerwig, she previously revealed she had one request for the film. 'I’ll follow your vision. Whatever you want this Barbie movie to be, let’s do that. Except I just have one favour,' she recalled of a conversation with the director on The Kelly Clarkson Show in June 2023. 'Please, please, please can we have a Dreamhouse where she has a slide that goes from her bedroom down to her pool, because that is my goal in life.'

Robbie revealed in a recent video for Architectural Digest, in which she filmed a tour of the Barbie set, that she studied old Radox commercials in order to prepare for Barbie’s shower scenes in the film. 'I would actually just look up old Radox commercials and try and replicate that,' she explained.

Other interesting tidbits that Robbie divulged about the set of the film included the fact that Barbie’s home was fully see-through to allow for the Barbies to ‘see each other’, featured a slide that lead from the bedroom to the garden, and had a fake pool.

Margot said it was ‘pretty incredible’ to see the set for the first time. 'I'd spent so long looking at the miniatures, and the models, and the drawings, and the design and then when you see it first time in real life and it's all there... it was really exciting,' she added.

Who stars in the Barbie film?

In June 2022, Robbie and Gosling were pictured in LA on the set of the film (see the photos here), marking the latter's first time being spotted while filming in character.

In April 2023, a full-length trailer for the highly-anticipated film was revealed, and several actors took to Instagram to share the news of which Barbie they star as in the film, including Ugly Betty's America Ferrera, 'a human'; Dame Helen Mirren, 'the narrator'; Bridgeton's Nicola Coughlan, 'a diplomat'; Sex Education's Emma Mackey, who 'has a nobel prize in physics'; and multi-Grammy winner Dua Lipa, who naturally plays a singer.

On May 22, 2023 Lipa teased her new song 'Dance the Night' from the Barbie album. In a 16-second clip shared to Instagram, the pop star is seen stepping out in satin pom-pom adorned mules with glittered heels. She then emulates Robbie’s now-iconic shot of her slipping out of the same pair of shoes in the Barbie trailer. Lipa then blows a kiss at the camera as a disco track plays in the background, offering just a single lyric: ‘Just come along for the ride!’ Her shimmery eye-shadow and nails, eclectic jewellery and pink halterneck look adds to the mood, as does the glimmering disco-lit room. The single was released at midnight on Friday, May 26, 2023.

Rumours about Lipa's involvement in the film started in May 2022, so we're very pleased they became a reality (as real as Barbie gets anyway...).

As for the line-up of Ken dolls, as well as Gosling, of course, three-time Emmy winner Will Ferrell was joined by the likes of Marvel's Simu Liu, new Doctor Who star Ncuti Gatwa, One Night in Miami...'s Kingsley Ben-Adir, and Grace and Frankie's Scott Evans.

Following news that Robbie wouldn't be the only star to play Barbie, Mackey revealed to Empire in July 2022 that outside of filming, the cast gathered for a slumber party. And it was a Barbie-only party for the actors who play the famed doll figure. 'Right in the beginning, we had a sleepover for the Barbies,' Mackey told the news outlet.

Referring to co-stars Evans and Gatwa, she added that it 'would involve playing games with Scott and Ncuti'. Sharing details about the cast's fun moments away from set, Mackey admitted: 'I don't play games usually, because I get so competitive and angry. But Scott and I were top of the game.'

She also spoke about her feeling towards playing Barbie in the film, saying: 'It's great to do comedy. Barbie is light and funny and silly and American and pink.'

Back in June 2021 interview, Robbie spoke about the pressures of playing such an iconic character. 'Right, it comes with a lot of baggage!' she told British Vogue. 'And a lot of nostalgic connections. But with that come a lot of exciting ways to attack it. People generally hear "Barbie" and think, "I know what that movie is going to be," and then they hear that Greta Gerwig is writing and directing it, and they’re like, "Oh, well, maybe I don’t..."'

What is the release date for Barbie?

Barbie hit cinemas on July 21, 2023.

The Warner Bros. project was first announced in 2019, but was released four years later. Variety confirmed that Gerwig and Baumbach were planning to finish the film after Baumbach finished on his 2022 film White Noise.

Who is Barbie?

While they might share similar physical attributes - long blonde hair, blue eyes, a wide smile - Robbie and Barbie also share somewhat similar career trajectories.

After all, Barbie has been known to have more than 150 careers on her CV, from registered nurse to rock star, veterinarian to aerobics instructor, pilot to police officer.

According to the Barbie website, the doll first broke the 'plastic ceiling' in the 1960s when, 'as an astronaut, she went to the moon…four years before Neil Armstrong'.

Meanwhile, in the 1980s she took to the boardroom as 'Day to Night' CEO Barbie and ran for President in the 1990s, before any female candidate ever made it onto the presidential ballot.

Likewise, Margot has taken on some seriously ground-breaking roles, from her early acting days as a flight attendant in the series Pan Am, to a figure skater in Oscar-winning film I, Tonya in 2017.

Remember Margot, life in plastic, it's fantastic!

Is there a Barbie trailer?

Yes. You can watch it at the top of this article.

In April 2023 Warner Bros. released a second teaser trailer for the film, in which Gosling's Ken tells Robbie's Barbie: 'I thought I might stay over tonight.' With a smile, she then asks: 'Why?' as he says: 'Because we're boyfriend and girlfriend.'

She then innocently probes: 'To do what?' leading Ken to respond, after some silence: 'I'm actually not sure.'

In April 2022 Warner Bros. shared a photo of Robbie in the iconic role to tease fans ahead of the film's release.

Announcing that the film will be out on July 21, 2023 the tweet included a snap of Robbie sitting behind a bright pink Corvette wearing a stripy blue and white halterneck top, beaded bracelet, white and blue polka dot headband and sporting a big bouncy blow dry.

You Might Also Like

• Pyjamas You Can Wear All Day

• 10 Hand Soaps To Make Your Bathroom Feel Like A Fancy Hotel

• 8 Of The Best Natural Deodorants