Author's Book Was Gifted to Ryan Gosling on 'Barbie' Set and Featured in Movie: 'We Live in a Wacky World'

John Egenes, a self-proclaimed "cowboy kind of guy," wasn't expecting his 2017 book 'Man & Horse' to be so involved in the summer blockbuster

If you’ve seen summer blockbuster Barbie, you know that the movie is fun and colorful and musical, but that it’s also about power and gender and books. One of the turning points of director Greta Gerwig's flick comes when Barbie (Margot Robbie) and Ken (Ryan Gosling) leave Barbie Land and enter the Real World. Left to his own devices, Ken wanders into a high school library and leaves with a stack of books in hand. These volumes, with titles like Horse and The Origins of Patriarchy, ignite a masculinity-fueled awakening in Ken, and lead him to flip Barbie Land upside down. 

While the majority of books that inspire Ken are fake (with covers created by the Warner Bros. Pictures graphics department), one real book somehow made it onto the set, leading to a New Zealand-based author's unexpected cameo.

Retired university lecturer John Egenes wasn’t expecting for family and friends to contact him, saying that his 2017 book, Man & Horse: The Long Ride Across America, was featured in Barbie. The book appears in a scene when Ken is at home in his Mojo Dojo Casa House.

Related: Ryan Gosling's 'Barbie' Song 'I'm Just Ken' Makes It to the Billboard Hot 100 Chart

“I think I've reached the age where nothing much surprises me anymore,” Egenes tells PEOPLE. “We live in a wacky world. It's just another one of those sort of serendipitous, wacky things.”

In an interview with IMDb, Gosling revealed that the book was actually a gift from Robbie: one of many "Ken-themed" souvenirs that the actress gave him throughout the filming process. Gosling even mentioned that the book’s plot is something that he would want to make into a movie, too.

And why not? Man & Horse details an epic cross-country trip Egenes took in 1974 with his beloved horse, Gizmo. Over 7 months, the pair traveled from California, where Egenes grew up, to Virginia, crossing 11 states and experiencing everything from “the isolation and loneliness of the southwestern deserts” to sleeping with coyotes, per the book’s description.

“It's sort of that kind of a story, going out and taking on a challenge that's kind of bigger than life, and then, accomplishing it,” Egenes says. The book's content, which is written in vignettes, was pulled from the logbook Egenes kept at the time. The author took his time with the writing process, which allowed him to reflect on his memories and “talk about what it really was."

Egenes, who used to ride freight trains and hitchhike throughout the 1960s, considers himself “a cowboy kind of guy” (honestly, he sounds like someone Ken would enjoy hanging out with). But despite the journey’s storybook-sounding premise, it had its challenges too. Serving as Gizmo’s sole caretaker throughout their trek held “an enormous weight.” Man & Horse is a tribute to the writer's faithful friend of 22 years, who stayed by his side from coast to coast.

“I still get so many emails and even handwritten letters [about the book.] Does anybody do that anymore?” Egenes says. “Somehow I touched them, or my horse touched their lives, and that’s hugely rewarding.”

Prior to Barbie (which Egenes has seen and deems “quite a good film”), the author had already had his work enjoyed by celebrities. While living in New Mexico, he worked as a saddle maker, and created belts and accessories for the likes of Ralph Lauren and Donna Karan. An interview with Stuff reveals he made a bustier for Naomi Campbell and guitar straps for Bruce Springsteen.

Related: The 10 Biggest 'Barbie' Movie Easter Eggs

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In addition to writing, Egenes is also a prolific multi-instrumentalist and session musician, according to his Bandcamp. As for new projects, he is currently writing a “wacky” novel that takes place in 1960s Marfa, Texas, though he admits that fiction is a bit of a challenge for him. 

“What's important is doing the good work and to try to, I don't know, come up with something good,” Egenes says. “That's what I've always done.”

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