Ryan Gosling Turns Down Roles That Are Too Psychologically Twisted for the Sake of Eva Mendes, Their Kids and ‘What’s Going to Be Best for All of Us’
Ryan Gosling said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal Magazine that he is no longer picking roles that are too psychologically twisted in order to maintain his mental health for the sake of his family. The Oscar nominee has two children with partner and fellow actor Eva Mendes. Gosling’s recent movies, the comedy “Barbie” and the action romance “The Fall Guy,” certainly reflect this career choice.
“I don’t really take roles that are going to put me in some kind of dark place,” Gosling told the publication. “This moment is what I feel like trying to read the room at home and feel like what is going to be best for all of us. The decisions I make, I make them with Eva and we make them with our family in mind first.”
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“I think ‘La La Land’ was the first,” Gosling added about when he started to shift his career. “It was just sort of like, ‘Oh, this will be fun for them, too, because even though they’re not coming to set, we’re practicing piano every day or we’re dancing or we’re singing.’ Their interest in ‘Barbie’ and their disinterest in Ken was an inspiration. I thought, they were already making little movies about their Barbies on the iPad when it happened, so the fact that I was going off to work to make one too, we just felt like we were aligned.”
Gosling’s upcoming film, “The Fall Guy,” casts him as a Hollywood stuntman who agrees to work on a buzzy new blockbuster in order to win back the love of his life, the movie’s director (Emily Blunt). Gosling is earning praise for once again displaying his comedy chops on the big screen, with Variety chief film critic Peter Debruge saying the actor “serves up one of his most appealing characters yet, blending the dedicated action hero of ‘Drive’ with the charismatic ladies’ man of ‘Crazy, Stupid, Love.'”
“‘The Fall Guy’ is funny, it’s sexy, and it features the boy’s-toy version of ‘Barbie’ scene-stealer Ryan Gosling — which is to say, after playing a Ken doll, now he embodies the ultimate action figure,” Debruge adds in his review. “This is the charisma-radiating side of Gosling audiences love (as opposed to expressionless ‘Only God Forgives’ Gosling), and though his character doesn’t have much depth, you could hardly wish for better casting.”
“The Fall Guy” opens in theaters May 3 from Universal Pictures. Head over to The Wall Street Journal Magazine’s website to read Gosling’s latest interview in its entirety.
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