Ryan Gosling does not strike me as the sort of actor who is going to sign up to do most big down-the-middle mainstream movies.
Little wonder. Starting your career as a Mouseketeer could probably sour anyone on plastic very, very quickly, and it feels like he's spent most of his career consciously reacting against that place where he started. From the moment I first took note of his work in the scathing, angry “The Believer,” where he played a Jewish Neo-Nazi, he has been determined to mine some of the darker corners of human behavior for his work.
Now that we know he took a meeting with Warner Bros. about their upcoming slate of superhero movies and Marvel about “Doctor Strange,” the question is whether or not he'll actually sign on to make what has become a sort of must for anyone working in Hollywood. I don't think he's anywhere near the right guy for “Doctor Strange,” and like when Joaquin Phoenix was being rumored for the role, I have a really hard time imagining Gosling as part of the Avengers. It just doesn't seem like the right fit.
The idea of him signing up to be part of “Suicide Squad” for DC, though, is far more interesting, and with David Ayer directing, it might be the right kind of package to attract him. Ayer has a rep for directing actors in tough roles, and making his ensembles look tough, and he seems like the kind of director who might be attractive to Gosling. There's something appealing about the notion of taking supervillains and pushing them into service doing jobs no one else wants to do, where they could easily die, and where morals take a back seat to necessity.
Even so, just because Gosling's taking meetings on projects like this, don't expect that means we'll definitely see him in any of these. He's earned the right to be picky, and having seen his directorial debut this year, I think it's pretty clear that he's not really a guy with blockbusters on his mind. I'll be curious to see if anyone lands him, and if they do, I'll be very interested to see the end result.