As you are reading this, I'm probably inside a nice air-conditioned theater watching Crazy, Stupid, Love starring the suddenly ubiquitous Ryan Gosling. Seriously, if you count Blue Valentine, which for most people only came out sometime in January, he has four films this year. The real shocking thing is not really the number of films he has done this year, but the fact that all of them are quality films, playing wholly different characters.
Granted I have only actually seen Blue Valentine as I write this so who knows what's in store for the other three films? But Crazy, Stupid, Love is getting solid reviews especially for a summer romantic comedy while Drive was already hit at the Cannes Film Festival. And when you factor in people's reaction to the newly released trailer for The Ides of March with the pedigree of its cast and crew, it's quite likely that film will be an Oscar contender this year.
And thus speaking of Oscars, will Gosling get his second nomination after a great year such as this? Unfortunately, competition is tough and his age and pretty boy looks are actually working against him. Plus it seems someone else is always siphoning the praise from Gosling no matter how deservedly it may be--Michelle Williams was the sole Oscar-nominee for Blue Valentine; Steve Carrell is the lead in Crazy, Stupid, Love; Nicholas Winding won Best Director for Drive at Cannes; George Clooney wrote, directed, and starred in The Ides of March.
Then again, maybe he just makes every film or every actor he works with look that good. All I know is, I'll be partaking in "The Year of Gosling" by seeing each and every one of his films on opening weekend.
I love Ryan Gosling. But all actors go through this cycle where they are doing everything in one year. I remember a decade ago when Jude Law was in everything that came out.
ReplyDelete@Michael. Oh definitely. But I think what sets this apart is that he's a lead character in ALL of these films and they are more or less highly regarded. Just hoping it pays off for him somehow, other than everyone loving him more than they already do.
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