Actor of the Week: Ryan Gosling
Ryan Gosling is an actor who really has started from the bottom and worked his way up, with every film he is in getting better and better. Not only is he a brilliant actor worthy of our Actor of the Week award, he also shares a name with myself, making him all that easier for this week’s choice!
One thing that people forget about Ryan Gosling is that as a kid he was part of the famous Disney Club, which is where many stars have spawned from; Justin Timberlake being another high-profile example. With Gosling being a part of this club, it led to him playing the unlikely role of Young Hercules in 1998. When people find this out, it is a very ‘no way’-style moment, as people remember the show but forget that it was him who was the lead.
The film which saw Gosling hit the big stage, was his role in the romantic classic The Notebook, seeing him star alongside former Actor of the Week, Rachel McAdams. If you were to ask any women to name their top romantic films, the chances of The Notebook being mentioned is extremely high. The Notebook sees Gosling play Noah, a poor guy who falls in love with a rich girl called Allie, played by McAdams. With the pair coming from completely opposite backgrounds, the films tells the story of how love triumphs over any circumstance.
The film which cemented my fondness for Gosling was his role as Driver in Drive, an 80’s style film about a getaway driver who is not a man of many words, and finds himself in a situation which sends his life a bit out of control, leaving him with his skills of driving a car to get him out of this situation. Gosling has about five lines in this film, but his presence within the movie is all that matters. Even with his life falling apart, he is still as cool as ever, and this is delivered perfectly by Gosling. I think this is the film which really showed the world what Gosling was capable of, that even though he didn’t have many lines, he was able to portray the emotion of the lead character perfectly by just using his facial expressions and perfect timing. It says a lot about an actor who can pull off a role like this.
With the huge success of Drive, Gosling still stuck to his roots of romantic films, starring in the Rom-Com Crazy, Stupid, Love. CSL is one of my, if not, my favourite romantic comedies, confirming my love of Gosling. CSL is a film about a father, played by Steve Carrell, who is going through a recent divorce and has to try and find himself, leading him to meet Ryan Gosling’s character Jacob, a womaniser who teaches Carrell’s character, Cal, how to pull woman. As the film goes on the pair, in fact, learn from each other, seeing Cal settle down, and Cal become more confident, in turn winning his wife back. Ryan Gosling is a seriously likable person and as cool as it gets, with his role in CSL being a great representation of this.
When it comes to awards Gosling is no stranger. He may not have won any awards himself, but he has been nominated for both La La Land and his role in Half Nelson. Not only was he nominated for these roles, he helped lead The Big Short to success at the Oscars seeing it win for Best Picture as well as securing La La Land the Best Picture award at the Golden Globes.
Gosling’s most recent film was the long-awaited sequel to Blade Runner, Blade Runner 2049, where we seeing Gosling play a replicant who is appointed Blade Runner status. Sadly, I was not a huge fan of this film, but this was of no fault of Gosling. His acting in this film is superb, pulling from his role in Driver, of a mysterious character with not many words.
Gosling is someone who doesn’t just churn out many films, but when he does it is usually a film which reaches great heights of success, showing us that he is an incredible talent. Keep up the good work Gozza!
