Is Ryan Gosling driving 3 of 2011's Oscar vehicles?

Ryan Gosling has a reputation for being picky about his projects, but clearly good scripts are rolling in, and he has chosen very well this year. After last year's Oscar snub for Blue Valentine, he is back with a vengeance. 


The trailer for George Clooney's latest political thriller, The Ides of March, lands just in time to meet strong  reviews calling Gosling's Crazy, Stupid, Love 'fresh', 'crazy smart', 'romantic, touching... and screwball, yet reassuringly down-to-earth' and 'flirting with greatness' (okay, I just took the good stuff).

Although Crazy, Stupid, Love was arguably intended to belong to Steve Carrell and Julianne Moore, Ryan Gosling & Emma Stone are getting all the best reviews. Gosling plays flawlessly smooth playboy , Jacob, who has to come to grips with messy feelings when he unexpectedly falls for Emma Stone's Hannah. Gosling is being hailed for showing comic timing as sharp as his abs, although Emma Stone - hot off last year's Easy A -seems to be the real revelation. It's not typical Oscar fare, but with 10 slots, a classy cast and good reviews could take it far if it has significant box office numbers. 


Ides of March comes with ready-made Oscar pedigree, and would have to disappoint to miss out. Its also a meaty role for Gosling, as he navigates the ethics and betrayals of high-stakes politics, and plays off a top-notch ensemble cast.  





Still due for general release is the ultimate Gosling vehicle of 2011 - Nicolas Winding Refn's critically raved - & Cannes Best Director Winner - Drive. Gosling plays a loner Los Angeles wheelman, stunt driving for movie productions by day and steering getaway vehicles for armed heists by night, slowly drawn into a relationship with his neighbour - the lovely Carey Mulligan - by her ex-convict husband. More importantly, Winding Refn stacks up tension and unpredictability like a master, and Gosling inhabits the screen with epic presence, and brings human intensity to the action. An Oscar-contending performance, according to Sasha Stone over at Awards Daily.

The Ides of March - Trailer

Amazing poster, brilliant cast (I guess it helps being George Clooney).

I have no idea of the story beyond the trailer, and would prefer to keep it that way. At worst, this should be a solid political thriller, at best, one of the movies of the year.

Ryan Gosling in Drive, the Ides of March & Logan's Run!

After 3 quiet years between Lars and the Real Girl and Blue Valentine, Ryan Gosling is back & churning out quality new projects like they were easy to find in Hollywood.

All Good Things

In addition to his Oscar-overlooked Blue Valentine, Gosling rounded off 2010 with another acclaimed performance as enigmatic rich kid in true-life murder mystery / love story All Good Things, with Kirsten Dunst & Frank Langella. I still have flashbacks of wanting to throttle Dunst in Elizabethtown, and the trailer (below) is pretty bad. But the film looks interesting & Gosling brilliant as ever:

Crazy, Stupid Love

Next year, Gosling is headlining 3 high profile movies:

First, he tries his hand at comedy / lighter drama opposite Steve Carrell, Julianne Moore & Emma Stone (nice cast) as womaniser Jacob Palmer (whose cold heart melts when he meets his true love, as usual) in Crazy, Stupid Love. Cool trailer below. 

The Ides of March

Then he joins one heck of a cast (Evan Rachel Wood, Marisa Tomei, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Geoffrey Wright) in George Clooney & Grant Heslov's adaptation of Beau Willimon's  play, political drama The Ides of March. Clooney & Heslov's last outing together was the brilliant Good Night and Good Luck, so colour this one 'excited'.









Lastly, Gosling headlines Drive as a Hollywood stuntman / getaway driver using his skills to protect Carey Mulligan, her baby & himself from sinister forces in Nicolas Winding Refn's adaptation of James Sellis's acclaimed novel. Debuting at Cannes, so it's not that kind of action thriller. I hope.

In other news, Gosling recently signed up again with Nicolas Winding Refn for his upcoming adaptation of sci fi classic, Logan's Run, about a future where life is perfect, but ends at 30, and was briefly attached (or rumoured to be) to Gore Verbinski & Jerry Bruckheimer's The Lone Ranger, with Johnny Depp as Tonto. He is no longer attached (or rumoured to be) to the latter, but looks like Logan's Run is happening.

TRAILERS & POSTERS AFTER THE CUT