Ryan Gosling has the weight of the world on his shoulders in his new movie.
Preteen daughters will do that to a man — even one who was Ken.
“I want to give a shout-out to my daughter, who saw me in serious glasses for a role. She looked up from reading and said, ‘Dad, you actually look smart in glasses.’”
“I said, ‘Thank you very much. I will take that note,’ ” the 45-year-old actor and three-time Oscar nominee says.
Her input helped inform Gosling’s new role in the new film “Project Hail Mary,” in which he plays a genius molecular biologist.
Based on the 2021 bestselling book by Andy Weir and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the film revolves around a schoolteacher named Ryland Grace (Gosling) who wakes up on a spaceship with two problems: He has amnesia, and he’s several light-years from Earth. His only buddy is an eyeless, five-legged alien whom he calls “Rocky.” They develop an unlikely friendship while trying to figure out a mysterious substance killing the sun.
For Gosling, the role is likely to join a hit list including “The Notebook,” “Drive,” “Crazy, Stupid, Love,” “Barbie,” “La La Land” and “Blade Runner 2049.”
Gosling and his wife, actress Eva Mendes, live near Santa Barbara, California, with daughters Esmeralda, 11, and Amada, 9.
His good life tips:
Figure it out
“Andy really captured lightning in a bottle with his book,” Gosling says. The message, plus the pandemic, influenced his choice to sign onto the picture. “When I heard it was going to be a film and actually got the script, it was at that time when movie theaters were shutting down,” he says. “Productions were shutting down because of COVID. But here was a movie that had a moving, optimistic way to look at the future. The message is: The future is not to be feared. It’s just something to figure out. I felt that was a radical approach.”
Making memories
Much like his megahit “Barbie” brought people back to the theaters with $1.4 billion worldwide in box office receipts, Gosling thought “Project Hail Mary” could do the same. “This is one of those movies where we will all remember where we were when we saw ‘Project Hail Mary’ for the first time,” he says. “We’ll know what we were doing, who we were with and where we saw the film. This had that potential.”
Solving problems
“I think Andy’s voice as an author is such an important one because of the beautiful way he looks at the future,” Gosling says. “He believes in turning fear into curiosity. He presents beings coming together to solve a problem. You can go to another galaxy, make an alien best friend and save the world. Not bad work for a regular Friday night. … It’s about what we’re capable of as human beings if we come together.”
Beautiful friendship
What was Gosling’s alien co-star like on the set? “Let’s be honest, Rocky is a bit of a diva,” he says. “He’s very high maintenance. He has a glam team called the Rocky-teers. They dress like ninjas. … Rocky certainly would have been easier to create as just a visual effect. But who wants easy? Everything is hard between these characters. Communicating is hard; being together is hard. But we found ways to connect as human and alien. It was quite beautiful.”
Taking notes
Gosling says one particular day proved unforgettable during the filming of “Project Hail Mary” because of co-star Sandra Hüller, who plays an international scientist appointed to help save the world. “We were shooting on an aircraft carrier. My dressing room was down the way from Sandra Hüller’s dressing room,” he recalls. “I was sitting there and I heard the voice of an angel coming down the hallway. It was the heavens pouring honey in my ear. It was Sandra singing. I said, ‘You must sing in the movie.’ ”
She agreed, to Gosling’s delight. “Music is always the answer,” he adds.
Powerful lesson
Gosling grew up in Orlando, Florida, where he appeared on “The Mickey Mouse Club,” and where he says a teacher had a big influence on his life. “I struggled with certain subjects like math and psychics in school,” he acknowledges. “I did have this one teacher who had a big impact on me. She set this reading goal. If we read the most books, you could take a drive in her Jeep. The second most got the brand-new New Kids on the Block CD.”
Gosling had his heart set on the ride, but got the CD. “I was proud to play a teacher,” he says of “Project Hail Mary,” because I know the power of a great teacher.”
Precious time
“It’s going so fast,” he says of his daughters growing up. “I hear the clock ticking. I don’t know how much time I’m going to get, and I don’t want to spend it in the wrong place. I know I’m not spending it in the wrong place if I’m with family.”
Don’t label yourself
“We are not just one thing,” Gosling observes. “We are many things in life happening in the same minute.”
