Ryan Gosling on His Welcome To The Hollywood Moment, Working with Harrison Ford & His Uncle "Elvis"

TL;DR

Ryan Gosling shares Hollywood stories including Harrison Ford's wild on-set antics, meeting Stallone in a kitchen, and his uncle who became Elvis full-time.

Key Points

• 1.Project Hail Mary used real puppetry instead of CGI for the alien Rocky. Five puppeteers dressed as ninjas operated the character on set, allowing Gosling to genuinely interact and improvise with Rocky, creating what he calls the magic of the film.
• 2.Gosling produced the film and kept it close to Andy Weir's source novel. He had Weir on set as much as possible, noting the book is considered one of the best sci-fi novels ever written and had already been 'stress tested' by readers.
• 3.Gosling confirmed he just finished filming a Star Wars movie set in its own original timeline. Directed by Shawn Levy (Deadpool & Wolverine, Stranger Things), it features all-original characters and is due out next year.
• 4.Harrison Ford punched Gosling on the Blade Runner set and showed zero remorse. Ford took the ice pack from Gosling's face, put his own fist in it, said 'I forgive you,' then swallowed about 15 Advil as a joke.
• 5.Ford also reportedly stapled his hat to his head during Raiders of the Lost Ark filming. When tape kept failing, Ford dismissed the crew's fixes and demanded a stapler, confirming what Gosling called his 'not like us' status.
• 6.Gosling's Hollywood moment was sneaking into a party and finding Stallone hiding in the kitchen. Stallone gave him great advice and lived up to every expectation, which Gosling said is rare when meeting heroes.
• 7.Gosling's uncle became a full-time Elvis impersonator when Ryan was eight years old. He bedazzled a white jumpsuit, did karate in the backyard, spoke like Elvis constantly, and even made Gosling his head of security with a gold lamé jacket at mall performances.
• 8.The Elvis uncle experience directly launched Gosling's music career. After his uncle stopped being Elvis and life got boring, Gosling and his sister started singing at weddings to recapture that circus-like energy, which eventually led him toward acting.