Matchbox Twenty’s Rob Thomas says he thought Ryan Gosling’s cover of Push was “hilarious” in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie.
Speaking with USA Today, Thomas was asked how he reacted to Barbie’s use of Push, a song released in 1997 he co-wrote alongside Matt Serletic.
“I want to preface this by saying that I thought it was hilarious,” Thomas answered. “But 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.
“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. But (Atlantic Records’) Julie Greenwald came to the Hollywood Bowl a month or two ago. She had just seen the movie and was like, ‘You come out of it loving Ken and loving Push.’ And I was like, ‘Aww. Alright, really good!’”
Greta Gerwig is a Matchbox Twenty fan
In Barbie, Ken (Gosling) adopts Push as his favorite song while he and Barbie (Margot Robbie) are leaving Barbieland for the real world. Upon returning back home, Ken (along with all the other Kens in Barbieland) attempts to woo the other Barbies by performing a cover of the song around a campfire one evening.
Gerwig told USA Today, “Growing up, I loved that song. 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.”
Barbie is currently playing in theaters across the United States.
