Ryan Gosling is finished with depressing roles for the sake of his family.
Ryan Gosling is finished with depressing roles for the sake of his family
The 43-year-old actor, who made his name with heavy roles in bleak films such as ‘Drive’, has now shifted to comedies including ‘Barbie’ as he continues to raise the two daughters he has with his 50-year-old partner Eva Mendes – Esmeralda, nine, and Amada, eight.
He told WSJ. Magazine’s June/July issue: “I don’t really take roles that are going to put me in some kind of dark place.
“This moment is what I feel like trying to read the room at home and feel like what is going to be best for (me and my family.)
“The decisions I make, I make them with (Eva) and we make them with our family in mind first.”
Ryan added about his career shift to lighter films: “I think ‘La La Land’ was the first,” Gosling told the magazine. “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.’”
The actor also retold his story about his girls “interest” in Barbie and their “disinterest” in Ken giving him the inspiration to play the doll in Greta Gerwig’s ‘Barbie’ film, which led to him lamding an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor.
He added: “(The girls) 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.
“I’m trying to just figure out who they are and be there for them in the way that I can.
“They’re such clear and distinct personalities that it’s sort of becoming obvious.”
Ryan’s other darker roles include a borderline alcoholic husband in 2010’s ‘Blue Valentine’ and a tormented gangster in ‘Only God Forgives’.
His latest part is as lovelorn stunt man Colt Seavers in ‘The Fall Guy’ opposite 41-year-old Emily Blunt.
He added about his daughters worrying about him taking the role: “My kids didn't want me to be set on fire.
“Even though I said, ‘Well, it’s actually, technically, the safer thing to do because there's a lot of protective stuff involved.
“(They) were like, ‘No. No fire.’ So I didn’t do it.”
Tagged in Emily Blunt Eva Mendes Ryan Gosling