Ryan Gosling’s obsessive track with Avatar’s anticlimactic title font – Papyrus – comes back knocking at the Saturday Night Live front door on April 13. Akin to him not letting go of his Barbie character Ken, he’s held on to his qualms with James Cameron’s spectacle that pays attention to every minute detail in terms of world-building, but lets go of the reins for its title font creation.
Nearly 7 years later, Gosling revisited the original 2017 SNL sketch premiere that addressed his character, Steve’s hilariously peculiar fixation on the movie for all the wrong reasons. One would think he’s finally gotten over his saturated trauma after spending years working past it, but the unrelenting present brings him face to face with the very thing he’s put in his all to avoid all this time.
Gosling’s Papyrus sketch was reportedly cut from the April 13 SNL broadcast. It eventually earned a digital premiere via the Saturday Night Live YouTube channel.
Ryan Gosling’s Papyrus 2 SNL sketch
Undoubtedly, Gosling’s original Papyrus SNL sketch was a smashing hit among fans, who couldn’t get over how grounded Ryan was for putting “so much into being so grounded yet so eccentric.”
Despite the oh-too-simple concept of the Avatar sketch, its execution, meshed with Ryan’s masterclass of acting chops, took the cake. Now, almost 7 years down the line, he said it’s been Kenough long and hung up his Ken costumes to resume his equally buzzworthy SNL character, but with a twist.
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After a couple of rough years and group therapy, Steven heads out for his first date, only to succumb to his demons later.
While at the dentist’s, he encounters the Avatar sequel – The Way of Water – and is shocked to see the revamped title font. He inches closer to finally being at peace, knowing that the title designer finally worked towards a well-thought-out execution. Yet, the thought of it still keeps itching him.
All his progress comes undone as he sits with his computer, playing out the font change in his mind, until it hits him – there was no alteration to begin with. “All the money in the world and [the same logo title design specialist – Jacob Crone] put it in bold.”
Suddenly, Steven’s healing journey turns into a somewhat horror flick. The climax drops an unanticipated twist that hits you in the gut. Turns out, Steven’s date with the aforementioned girl – who works at Disney – was all premeditated as part of a “plan.”
He invites himself to her work event – the Disney Graphics Awards Ball – and confronts his ultimate enemy for his “afterthought,” until he’s finally slapped with the truth ball. His issues were never with Crone, who used the humble origins of a font like Papyrus, that supposedly ushered “in enlightenment,” for a heavy-budgeted movie like Avatar.
It was all part of Crone’s “plan” to bring Steven to him and teach him to let go. His ultimate unease was never as much with Papyrus as it was with daddy issues (deja vu of every therapy session ever?).
