Also as expected, Oppenheimer's wins included Christopher Nolan's long-awaited Best Directing citation and acting prizes for Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. A good thing, too, because otherwise the 96th Academy Awards were perfectly respectable yet not exactly thrilling, which was almost bound to be the case in a night with so few genuine surprises among the winners.Īs anticipated, Best Picture victor Oppenheimer cleaned up, if not quite as heartily as many predicted: seven awards in total, matching the tally of last year's Everything Everywhere All at Once but not equaling or exceeding the eight scored by Slumdog Millionaire in 2009, which was the last time a film scored that many. And if there was anyone alive still unconvinced of Gosling's vocal prowess, when he hit his high note on “ I-i-i-i-i-i-i'm ju-u-u-u-ust Ke-e-e-e-e-e-e-n!!!” he absolutely nailed it, ending the song with such an explosion of all-inclusive happiness that it's frankly astonishing that the Dolby Theatre still had its roof in place.Īll it takes is one production number this extraordinary to turn a plasant Oscars telecast into one for the ages, and that's what Gosling and company gave us with “I'm Just Ken” people will be talking about this live-television miracle for years. (He also got La La Land co-star Emma Stone singing – a moment that Stone would reference later in the broadcast.) Heading back for the big finale, on the lyric “Put your manly hand in mine,” Gosling took the manly hand of one of the show's camerapeople, gave it a sweet kiss, and escorted the technician to the stage. It should go without saying that the screaming, ecstatic crowd was long on its feet by this point, their overwhelming joy evident when Gosling jumped off the stage and recruited Robbie, Greta Gerwig, and America Ferrera to sing parts of the song's chorus into his handheld mic. Freaking Slash showed up, seemingly out of nowhere, and wailed on electric guitar. Gosling himself air-surfed on dancers in a Busby Berkeley homage featuring spinning cardboard Barbie cutouts. Gosling's fellow movie Kens Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Air, Ncuti Gatwa, and Scott Evans posed and preened. And then, just when you were thinking Gosling's number couldn't possibly get more wonderful, it did.
Then Gosling stood and walked toward the audience, his arms outstretched with “Worship me like the rock god I am” bravado. Their seated choreography and gestures were appropriately corny and melodramatic, and there was a terrific bit in which the dancers mimed smashing their prop champagne flutes on the floor so they could tear their hearts out with the broken glass. Making his way on stage, he fist-bumped a couple musicians and one of the 10 Kens positioned on pink-upholstered steps, all of whom were dressed in black suits and, following their leader, black Stetsons. Like most of the audience, Eilish and Robbie were laughing even before Gosling stood up, and while he didn't go shirtless in a full-length mink the way some of us may have hoped, his eye-searingly hot-pink ensemble with leather gloves to match was a more-than-acceptable substitute. Gosling began his rendition from beneath a cowboy hat, and when he removed it, he was sporting sunglasses – two Ken trademarks accounted for, and the number wasn't even five seconds old. Last night's “I'm Just Ken” began adorably, with Gosling starting his signature song from the audience and seated, to their evident delight, in front of Billie Eilish (whose own Barbie song would eventually win the Oscar) and behind Margot Robbie.
Is it too much to hope, though, that a Guns N' Roses bio-pic might lie in Gosling's future? He's clearly already friendly with Slash! Yet he opted against singing La La Land's eventual winner “City of Stars” at the ceremony seven years ago, and there was some concern that Gosling might decline this live-crooning opportunity, too, perhaps feeling that his Mickey Mouse Club days were long behind him. When it was announced, several weeks ago, that the Barbie co-star would indeed be performing Best Original Song nominee “I'm Just Ken” at the 96th Annual Oscars, it was a mild surprise. But Ryan Gosling totally won the Academy Awards last night. Ryan Gosling didn't win an Academy Award last night.