Spotlight : Ryan Gosling, The Actor You Love To Hate

New York Magazine

It is quite impossible these days to avoid Ryan Gosling, insomuch I am starting to wonder if the scenarists of the Village of the Damned didn't have him as a direct source of inspiration. In one year, he succeeded in reaching the rare and exclusive rank of "IT boy" ( an IT boy is the same thing as an IT bag, except that there is no logo in it, at least until now ), awarded by all the press, masculine and feminine. Even more by the feminine. Now that George is busy buying Nespresso coffee pods ( sorry for the American out there, this is a European-only reference ) and Elisabetta Canalis, and that Brad is becoming a boring old daddy, Ryan Gosling intends to become the new sex symbol of Hollywood. He worked very hard for that, and I am sure he won't allow nobody to get in his way. A tad scary ? Oh yeah.  

W Magazine with Michelle Williams

Indeed, I can't help watching Ryan Gosling smiling at a movie premiere and wondering where the soul of Ted Bundy went. I sincerely pity his co-star Michelle Williams who is enduring the promotion of their Oscars-bound flick Blue Valentine : he really looks at her in the same way Lennie looked at Curley's wife in Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men ... We could almost see fear on her face through her forced smile. Ryan seems to have the talent of putting his female partners in an awkward situation. Recently, his former 'All Good Things' co-star Kirsten Dunst described him as "dark and weird and manipulative". Add an intense relationship with his mother Donna and you will have the perfect image of a psychopath. But then, how did he manage to become such a superstar ?   

Dead Man Bones

 At the beginning, it wasn't evident that Ryan Gosling would become what he is now. A former MMC star outshined by Britney, Justin and Christina, Ryan started his career with a bunch of rubbishy roles such as the ridiculous Hercules. I perfectly remember him as the irritating pest of Breaker High in 1997, and still would slap him. But them, a spectacular change of career. No slapping anymore, he is mind-blowing in The Believer of Henry Bean, a very tense independant tale about a jewish neo-nazi, and also in wonderful Stay of Marc Forster.
Murder by Numbers was a piece of junk, but his relationship with Sandra Bullock brought him attention. Too bad for him, at the time the IT boys weren't existing and Sandra was not Hollywood's heroine yet. But the badass didn't want to give up his goal. Genuine swot, he collected tough roles in independant movies and finally caught the eyes of the producers. He was even offered a role in Fracture, opposite to Anthony Hopkins. And now he plays with all the rising stars of Hollywood : Christina Hendricks, Carey Mulligan ...
And yet, with his leather perfecto and his t-shirts with holes, he was more destined for painting contemporary art and killers' roles in David Cronemberg's movies. Alas, no, he has prefered to inflict us his irritating smile in romantic flicks ...

Natalie Portman

 Incidentally, romanticism is not his strong point. Ryan is totally obsessed by Natalie Portman for ages. When she broke up with Devandra Banhart, he flooded her cell phone with some crazy advances. But, wisely, Natalie ignored Ted, sorry Ryan, in spite of his equally talent in terms of mad music ... Dead Man Bones was obviously too intense for her. So, Gosling was forced to make do with less intellectual actresses. The manipulator has a good nose for rising talents, and as soon as a blonde is getting some success, you'd be sure he will pounce on her. Rachel McAdams seems to have bailed herself out, but now it is the turn of Gossip Girl's star Blake Lively. Wish her luck. But it could have been worst : he had got closer of Hayden Panetierre ... That would have been apocalypse, for sure !

Interview Magazine

Sure, I agree that Gosling is a magnificent actor, but there is something about him that makes me want to cry wolf. Maybe it is his rap moment at the last AMFAR's party, or perhaps his stupid idea of gaining weight to embody the character of the father in Lovely Bones, but I can't help thinking this guy is not clear. Please, don't give him an Oscar, or I think his arrogance will become so big it will create traffic jams in Los Angeles.
Instead, I suggest that we cast him as a vampire ( a movie on Anne Rice's Lestat ), a serial killer ( a remake of Primal Fear ) or a werewolf ( oh really Guillermo Del Toro, you totally missed something ). Because we love to hate Ryan Gosling. Because he is "adorable". And dark and weird and manipulative. God, Kirsten, you're such a genius. This quote should be taught to school children.