Ben Mendelsohn, a phenomenal Australian actor, plays a character who Luke engages with throughout the film, but he’s also a very quirky guy. We recalled a scene where Ben’s character is doing nothing but chasing geese and asked Ryan how those little scenes of nothingness fit in the film while also being extremely important and workable parts of the film:
Ryan Gosling: That’s just Ben Mendelsohn. If we cut to Ben right now he’d be chasing geese or some equivalent of that [Laughs]. That’s just what it’s like hanging out with him. We just came across the geese and shot that scene.
We then asked Ryan how he met Derek in the first place and started this wonderful cinematic team:
Ryan Gosling: I remember a long time ago an ex-girlfriend had just come from a meeting and was like “I just had lunch with you. I just had a meeting with a guy who looks exactly like you.” Then I started hearing about my doppelganger, and finally a few years later we met to start talking about Blue Valentine. I said “You just wanted me because I look like you!”
A lesser known fact is that Ryan Gosling will be acting as director for the first time on a film titled How To Catch A Monster, so we asked Ryan if he’d be mirroring anything he’s learned from Derek into his own directorial style:
Ryan Gosling: You learn from all directors, all these guys. At the same time though, you learn it’s not just a style you can adopt. They have a vision and a strong point of view, and they have a filter by which they send everything though unique to each of them, so I guess the idea is to try and admire that but not emulate it. You can only be yourself, and it sounds cheesy, but when it comes to filmmaking there’s really nowhere to hide. You can tell so much about somebody by the films they make, and it’s only while I approach this do I now realize how much of the filmmaker you can see in their films.
We then asked his thoughts on becoming a Hollywood star and commercial success, using the example of The Place Beyond The Pines and saying it’s a “personal independent film,” that kind of movie that will draw audiences, but not big-time audiences:
Ryan Gosling: Well not with that attitude. [Laughs]
I’m not very good at knowing what people want. I don’t have that talent. The best I can do is make films that resonate with me and see what happens. It’s not something I feel I can predict, and maybe if I try to do that I’ll be instantly humbled, so I’m going to stay out of that.
While doing some research for the film, Ryan found out some tidbits about robbing banks to make his performance as real as possible. We asked what the most interesting things he learned were:
Ryan Gosling: In the bank teller’s training, they’re actually told to give up the money if a robber even asks for it. The truth is, all the guns and yelling are not really necessary. I’m not really promoting or advocating this, but in theory you could say “I’d like to have all of that, please,” and they have to do it. I don’t think any of the show is necessary. You just go and politely ask for all the money, and they have to give it to you, and you get away with it!
Apparently Ryan had always wanted to rob a bank, which is something Ryan told Derek before getting the role of Luke. We of course had to ask more about this “dream” of his:
Ryan Gosling: I had this delusion that I knew how to get away with it, and I thought it was my idea, and then it turned out Derek had been writing the same thing. What I really found out is that this guy in Tel Aviv had been doing it for years, with great results, robbing banks on a motorcycle with the box truck parked in an alley nearby.
Talking about the bank robbing and violent outbursts, we asked Ryan what kind of background he gave his character Luke:
Ryan Gosling: Again, it was loading it with as many masculine cliches as possible, all these ideas of what it is to be a man and the willingness to be violent – that such acts could be some kind of proof of manhood. He was quick to show that as he is in almost every other respect, but also kind of hoping that all of that stuff would fall kind of flat with what was really required of him just to be present. All he really had to do was be there.
We then asked Ryan what his definition of being a man is:
Ryan Gosling: Doing what you say you’re going to.
Drawing from our time with Eva Mendes, who revealed her and Ryan were long-time friends before shooting The Place Beyond The Pines, we again asked if a friendship makes acting together easier or more awkward at times:
Ryan Gosling: I think in our case it was helpful because we did know one another. When you’re filming a movie it has a dream-like quality, like these characters in the film knew each other in another life, as did Eva and I. It felt like it added an authenticity to the connection.
It’s harder to pretend, which ultimately makes it better, which is one of the reasons I love working with Derek and hopefully continue to work with him. In my film I also casted people who I’ve worked with before, and I like that idea. You spend so much time filming a movie just tip-toeing around people’s processes and getting to know one another, I think you waste a lot of time being polite. It’s nice in this case with Derek where we had a shorthand, and were able to be brutally honest with each other. Hopefully if we keep working together we’ll grow.
Going back to How To Catch A Monster, one of the other writers asked who Ryan has announced as confirmed cast members:
Ryan Gosling: Christina Hendricks, Eva [Mendes], Saoirse Ronan, Matt Smith from Dr. Who, Ben Mendelsohn…
“Any Geese?”
Ryan Gosling: [Laughs] I’m sure they’ll follow…
Finishing up, we asked what we could expect to see Ryan in before How To Catch A Monster, obviously including his second hook-up with director Nicolas Winding Refn:
Ryan Gosling: Well there’s this and I did a film in Thailand called Only God Forgives with [Nicolas Winding Refn].
“Is that as violent as Drive?”
Ryan Gosling: Way more violent. Actually, I wouldn’t say way more violent, but I will say way more extreme.
“Do you think you’ll always act?”
Ryan Gosling: I don’t know, I mean, they’re making coloring books out of me, we’ll see.
I’d like to thank Ryan Gosling for taking the time for this interview, and be sure to catch The Place Beyond The Pines when it opens March 29th!
