NEW YORK – Add to the list of things that Ryan Gosling can do well driving a motorcycle through traffic.
Sitting down with HitFix to discuss his newest movie, “The Place Beyond the Pines,” the actor told us that his director, Derek Cianfrance, is “A very unique, special filmmaker,” whom, he added jokingly, has very “unrealistic ideas of what people are capable of.” In this case, that meant Gosling riding a motorcycle at high speeds through traffic.
Gosling immediately went go on to explain about Cianfrance that “That’s also what makes his films so exceptional, you know, is that he pushes everyone to the limit.” In this case that led to some very long takes with Gosling, in character, pulling up to a bank on his bike, robbing it, and then getting away on the bike while dodging traffic. One of the scenes, Gosling told us, involved seven minute long takes and was done approximately 22 times.
“The Place Beyond the Pines,” which also stars Eva Mendes, Bradley Cooper, Rose Byrne, Dane DeHaan, and Emory Cohen, marks Gosling’s second collaboration with Cianfrance. The two previously worked together on “Blue Valentine.”
As for reuniting with the director, Gosling told us “there’s no one really quite like him” and that Cianfrance works very hard and makes his “process so invisible” which, in turn, allows the actors to shine. “There’s greatness in him, and it’s, you know, it’s great to be around that.”
“The Place Beyond the Pines” opens in theaters this Friday.