Ryan Gosling“I'm glad I have an outlet. I don't think I would put my aggression elsewhere, but working on the projects I have worked on, you tend to benefit personally from trying to wrap your head around the way other people look at the world.” source: www.rottentomatoes.com |
A talented actor, Gosling is known for what he does with a character rather than just with the dialogue. His career also has a definitive before and after point, rather the gradual growth most actors see. In 2007, continuing his upward climb after co-starring with Anthony Hopkins in Fracture, he was supposed to play the role of Jack Salmon in The Lovely Bones. After being talked into the role (he felt he was too young), he gained 60 pounds only to be replaced by Mark Wahlberg when the producer got cold feet. In his own words, this left Gosling "fat and unemployed." After the 3 year hiatus that followed, however, Gosling burst back onto the scene. With Blue Valentine cementing his credentials amongst film buffs and Crazy, Stupid, Love. bringing him back into the public's eye after The Notebook, he has achieved genuine A-list status.
His seemingly low-effort but incredibly effective portrayal of characters has brought on quite a few comparisons to a young Marlon Brando, however, given his good looks and quiet confidence, a more apt comparison in my mind has always been a George Clooney who hit his stride at a younger age. Both his loyalty and his minimalist approach have become something of a weakness though, so it's probably good that he's announced a break from acting (he has one more role in an as-yet-untitled Terrence Malick film, though writing and directing remain options, with him serving both roles in How to Catch a Monster). After gaining critical acclaim in Derek Cianfrance's Blue Valentine and Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive, he partnered with both again for Place Beyond the Pines and Only God Forgives respectively. In each case, the movie couldn't live up to its predecessor's reviews, and neither could Gosling's performance. Critics went from praising "how he [managed] to have so much impact with so little apparent effort" in his earlier films to decrying him "[reprising] his man-of-few-words persona ... Enough already."
What began as a career founded on refusing to be constrained (he began as a child actor in television series like "Goosebumps") had at that point grown into one of routine. While Ides of March and Crazy, Stupid, Love. showed flashes of being able to burn some calories in a role, Gosling obviously felt more at home in playing men with few facial expressions. While his upcoming How to Catch a Monster represents a new possibility for him as he serves both aforementioned roles for the first time in Hollywood, it's hard to imagine it surpassing a similar career re-invention (in terms of what it represents for the man involved, not the subject matter): Don Jon. For that reason, it would be nice to see Gosling get back to acting, but instruct his agent to only take calls from projects bearing no similarity to anything he's done before. Take a page from Matthew McConaughey's playbook and branch out fast. Heck, sign up for a Marvel movie if it lets him show a little more range. He's Canadian and Hugh Jackman has said he's done playing Wolverine...
His seemingly low-effort but incredibly effective portrayal of characters has brought on quite a few comparisons to a young Marlon Brando, however, given his good looks and quiet confidence, a more apt comparison in my mind has always been a George Clooney who hit his stride at a younger age. Both his loyalty and his minimalist approach have become something of a weakness though, so it's probably good that he's announced a break from acting (he has one more role in an as-yet-untitled Terrence Malick film, though writing and directing remain options, with him serving both roles in How to Catch a Monster). After gaining critical acclaim in Derek Cianfrance's Blue Valentine and Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive, he partnered with both again for Place Beyond the Pines and Only God Forgives respectively. In each case, the movie couldn't live up to its predecessor's reviews, and neither could Gosling's performance. Critics went from praising "how he [managed] to have so much impact with so little apparent effort" in his earlier films to decrying him "[reprising] his man-of-few-words persona ... Enough already."
What began as a career founded on refusing to be constrained (he began as a child actor in television series like "Goosebumps") had at that point grown into one of routine. While Ides of March and Crazy, Stupid, Love. showed flashes of being able to burn some calories in a role, Gosling obviously felt more at home in playing men with few facial expressions. While his upcoming How to Catch a Monster represents a new possibility for him as he serves both aforementioned roles for the first time in Hollywood, it's hard to imagine it surpassing a similar career re-invention (in terms of what it represents for the man involved, not the subject matter): Don Jon. For that reason, it would be nice to see Gosling get back to acting, but instruct his agent to only take calls from projects bearing no similarity to anything he's done before. Take a page from Matthew McConaughey's playbook and branch out fast. Heck, sign up for a Marvel movie if it lets him show a little more range. He's Canadian and Hugh Jackman has said he's done playing Wolverine...