Is the magic already gone between Ryan Gosling and Nicolas Winding Refn? Will "Drive" and "Only God Forgives" be the only record of their bromance that captivated the cinematic world? This much is certain: Gosling will no longer be starring in the long-developing "Logan's Run" remake.
The news comes from a tweet by Variety's Justin Kroll, without any other context, so allow us to speculate. We'd wager that this is being viewed as a big tentpole picture for Warner Bros., and to be fair, for all his popularity, Gosling still isn't quite at the level to open a movie to big numbers. He has mostly been a player in indie movies or prestige projects, and his dalliances with mainstream fare for WB ("Crazy Stupid Love," "Gangster Squad") are essentially ensemble pictures that surround him with bigger names. Simply put, he hasn't led a $100 million movie on his own, and as studios are ever more wary, they might want a more bankable, internationally friendly name. That's one theory.
The other might be that with Gosling gearing up his directorial debut "How To Catch A Monster" next spring, it essentially puts him out of the game for about a year, and WB might be wanting to move a bit faster on the project. Whatever the reason, a Gosling/Refn sci-fi picture isn't happening. And we should stress, the two still appear to be on good terms, so it's not like they had a falling out. "I will give him advice if he wants me to. I told him if he wakes up in sweats at 5am on the morning of shooting to call me,” Refn recently told the Evening Standard, talking about Gosling's first time behind the camera.
As for "Only God Forgives," it looks like it won't be at the Rome Film Festival as one of the surprise pictures as some have speculated. Refn tells French outlet JDD (via The Film Stage) that he will be "fine-tuning" the picture through December. And while an early release date of April 4th for Denmark has been reported, those international bows tend to be malleable, and we wouldn't be surprised if that shifts as Refn and the Weinsteins (who are releasing the picture through their Radius shingle) figure out the best way to position it. A return to Cannes? Berlin maybe? Hopefully, we'll know soon.
Only God Forgives will be the best movie ever.
It more than likely comes down to Gosling's Directorial debut which throws a spanner in the works for Warner's planned 2014 release but there are other factors to be considered, WB are actively looking to build talent relationships with the recent breakout stars and are attempting to build a strong rapport with Tom Hardy and to a lesser extent Joseph Gordon-Levitt as they look to add and/or replace studio favourites Leonardo DiCaprio and Clint Eastwood (not to mention plug the gap left by Clooney who left to Sony). Gosling looked to be another man they were seriously running the rule over (after being considered for JGL's role in TDKR and being cast in Crazy Stupid Love and Gangster Squad). Gosling's only problem is that he's yet to star in a film that's made a 100 million domestically (although both The Notebook and CSL came close) a potential franchise would definitley be the right way to cement his status as the best emerging leading man of the moment (despite his strong indie record) but his directorial debut combined with WB's desire to push the project forward and the fact that the script changes the premise to everyone dies at 21 has WB scrambling to find a younger actor to take the part.
So WB wants to do Logans Run as a big studio movie with Refn, a director Gosling wanted and picked for Drive, the movie he had a huge critical success with one year ago, and Gosling is now the one who doesn't want to do it? This finally could give him a huge push in terms of not being just an Indie sensation but in the studio production Hollywood game. I have a hard time believing Gosling is the one who bailed out.
I think Gosling is a bigger name than you are giving him credit. The Notebook was huge and Crazy Sexy Love was too. He seems like one of the few guys that can bounce back and forth between indie and Studio films.
here's hoping it is, at the least, the end of your using the word "bromance"
Ryan Gosling is a star. He just doesn't do huge movies aka play a superhero in a blockbuster franchise, though he's gotten the offers. If he is out then Refn is probably out too or there's something else from Warner Brothers Gosling wants to do.
I am pretty sure that it is because of Ryan's directorial debut. Not because Ryan isn't a star yet. He's a huge star and a damn good actor. Refn and Ryan are still friends.
apparently it because Ryan wants to focus on his directorial debut which he's going to shoot next year. He's even been the cameraman for some of the Malick film, check out the shoots in Austin.
"This much is certain […] The news comes from a tweet by Variety's Justin Kroll, without any other context,"
Cast-iron certainty!
RyGos may not be the biggest star, but the lead in this will have to pass for an under-30, which narrows the field. Jake Gyllenhaal? Andre Garfield? James Franco? C-Tates? Gosling's for sure a bigger name than that dude who was in 'John Carter', anyway. And remember that Robert Downey Jr was only a household name for all the wrong reasons when he did 'Iron Man'.
I'd be surprised if Refn ended up directing this.
I'd say Gosling is one of the few actors studios would want in this sort of project. The guy's a star, pure and simple. The second option is much more likely. Or option 3 – it's a sh*t idea and he's just worked that out.