10 Recent Movie Castings That Had No Right To Be This Good

Sometimes, all it takes is a first look at a movie or a character for potential audiences to decide whether it will be any good or not. First impressions mean a lot, and Ryan Gosling's casting as Barbie didn't exactly go down brilliantly.

Margot Robbie as Barbie? Inspired, and a decision nobody could have argued with. Gosling as Ken? Not so much. This one took a bit more convincing, and the first look at the actor with the bleached blonde hair didn't help.

This was, of course, when no one could have predicted what a thought-provoking smash hit Barbie would have ultimately become, and the crucial role both Gosling and Ken would have played in it. Neither brought to the screen what anyone would have expected, in the best possible way, as an Oscar nomination wouldn't have been dreamed of by even the most ardent defenders of the casting.

Aside from the awards buzz, the character became something of a pop culture sensation, arguably even more so than Barbie, which kind of backs up the entire point of the film. Ryan Gosling's casting was ultimately perfect opposite Margot Robbie, and it's difficult to say whether Barbie would have seen the same success without either of them, though you may not have envisioned saying that about Ken beforehand.