Ryan Gosling Says He's Fan of Slapstick and Wanted to Bring Physical Comedy to 'The Nice Guys'
- Details
- Category: Interviews
- Created: Monday, 16 May 2016 13:38
- Published: Monday, 16 May 2016 13:38
- Written by Lupe R Haas
THE NICE GUYS gave Ryan Gosling a chance to show off his physical comedy abilities. He explains how the role afforded him the opportunity to pay homage to some of his early role models like Harold Lloyd and the comedy of Abbott and Costello. Listen to the interview below.
In THE NICE GUYS, Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe are the new Abbott and Costello as bumbling private detectives out to solve the case of a missing girl who seems to have a target on her back. Crowe is the straight man to Gosling’s ineptness, and together their characters set out to solve the mystery set in the 1970s.
At a recent interview with Ryan Gosling in Los Angeles, the actor best known for dramatic roles, says he was a fan of slapstick comedy growing up, and while THE NICE GUYS is not slapstick, he wanted to bring some of that influence into the character of Holland March. For one scene, Holland March finds a dead body, and his reaction is taken straight out of an Abbott and Costello shtick.
THE NICE GUYS director and co-writer Shane Black reveals much of the physical comedy was not in the script, but that Gosling brought that to the role. “The great thing about Ryan is that nobody knows he can do physical comedy,” according to the director. “The reason it’s funny is because it’s Ryan Gosling.”
In the interview below, Gosling explains how one of the sequences pays homage to another comedic genius, Harold Lloyd whose best known for the silent film, SAFETY LAST (1923) in which he hangs off the hands of a clock on a skyscraper. Like a scene taken out of a Lloyd comedy, an extended chase scene involves Gosling running after a film reel and a few daredevil physical feats, which Gosling says left him battered and bruised.
Black also adds that Crowe and Gosling “fed off each other” for some of the memorable and hilarious scenes between their characters. Gosling came up with the bathroom stall door routine in which he can’t keep it open as he sits on the toilet when confronted by Crowe’s character. Gosling reveals he arrived on the set early to practice that scene, but he couldn’t nail it until Crowe gave him a few tips on how to make it work. Listen to how that went down in the interview below.