Despite the fact that he is now going to play Ken himself in Greta Gerwig’s highly anticipated ‘Barbie’, Ryan Gosling was not always perceived as an attractive actor in Hollywood. In fact, the director of ‘El diario de Noa’ chose him for the role because he seemed like “a very normal guy”.
normal people
Ryan Gosling himself remembered how had to “enter through the back door” to achieve Hollywood star status which he enjoys today. To star in films as well remembered as ‘La La Land’ or ‘Blade Runner 2049’, he first had to play small roles in more modest projects.
We take no risk in stating that, one of the films that boosted his career towards those commercial productions that he pursued so much, was ‘Noa’s Diary’, the adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks novel directed by Nick Cassavetes (‘Anne’s Decision’) in 2004.
Surprisingly, Gosling was chosen to play the partner of Rachel McAdams in the romantic tape because he was the complete opposite of the idea that the director had of the typical movie heartthrob: “The fact that you don’t have the qualities of a male lead is the reason why I want you to be my male lead” he told her.
The Canadian actor recounted how the director explained to him after the casting of ‘El diario de Noa’ that he was the chosen precisely for “not being handsome”:
Nick Cassavetes told me to meet at his house. When I got there, he was standing on his terrace, he looked at me and said, “I want you to play this role because you’re not like the other young actors in Hollywood. You’re not handsome, you’re not cool, you’re just a normal guy who looks a little crazy”.
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