Warning: This post contains spoilers for "Barbie."
Ken lives to be in Barbie's gaze. And nothing is better than getting to stare back at Barbie for 4 1/2 minutes while playing guitar and singing Matchbox Twenty's hit song "Push."
Ryan Gosling does just that (for more than four hours actually), in one of the most iconic scenes in "Barbie," as he sits around a campfire with his fellow Kens performing a cover of "Push."
Rob Thomas, lead singer of Matchbox Twenty, told USA Today he thought the scene was "hilarious."
"When I got the call for 'Barbie,' they told me, 'Ken’s by the fireside, he’s playing the song and it’s his favorite band.' So I did this thinking I’d be the butt of the joke, and I was fine with that. I’m pretty thick-skinned," he said.
"But Julie Greenwald (from Atlantic Records) came to the Hollywood Bowl a month or two ago," he continued. "She had just seen the movie and was like, 'You come out of it loving Ken and loving "Push."' And I was like, 'Aww. All right, really good!'"
Thomas, 51, added he got used to being made fun of in the '90s and early 2000s, especially after his band was included in a joke in "Bring It On."
"In 'Bring It On,' (Kirsten Dunst’s character) has this douchey boyfriend. And there’s a scene where he was in his dorm room with a Matchbox Twenty poster in the background. There was a whole period during the ‘90s where the more successful we got, the bigger target we were. We were an easy takedown," he said.
He said he has been a longtime fan of director Greta Gerwig.
"Greta Gerwig has been one of my crushes forever, to the point where I was on a plane one time and I called my wife, like, 'Baby, Greta Gerwig just came on the plane, oh, my God.' So just the fact that it didn’t diminish my crush of Greta, that’s even better," he said.
Gerwig told USA Today about how she got the idea to use Thomas' song in the film.
"Growing up, I loved that song," she said. "I was like, 'This is my rock ‘n’ roll, Dad. Enjoy The Who, but these are my guys.' And it wasn’t until college that I actually thought, 'What is that song about?' Just thinking about 13-year-old me singing along and really meaning it, I was like, 'That is so interesting.' I looked it up and, in a way, (Thomas) was playing a character. It’s almost like a story song."
Thomas said he hasn't seen "Barbie" yet, but is planning to check out the film starring Gosling and Margot Robbie.
"I’m probably going to stream it on my bus when it’s available to everyone else, because apparently, I’m not famous enough to get a screener. I bet you John Mayer would get a screener!" he said with a laugh. "No, listen, I’m excited to see two of the most beautiful people on the planet while I listen to my own song. That’s pretty amazing, in and of itself."
