The Chemistry of Ryan Gosling - People - 2013 (January 21)
This article is from the magazine People, dated January 21, 2013, featuring Ryan Gosling.
The high-res magazine scans are from Bryn.
Cover: All About Ryan Gosling! America's Most Wanted Man. Hey Girl! Tons Of Sexy Pics. Those eyes (and biceps) make millions of women swoon. From homemade tattoos to Disneyland dates, inside his quirky world.
Table of Contents: Dream Guy - He's sweet, secretive, and sexy. All about Ryan Gosling's quirky world - and his love life with Eva Mendes.
Movies
By Alynda Wheat
Even a dimwitted Gangster can't kill my crazy, stupid love for reunited costars Stone and Gosling.
Gangster Squad
Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Sean Penn, Emma Stone - R - 1.5 stars
DRAMA
The blonde in the train station is new in town, and trust me, they don't make 'em any dumber. So, does Sgt. John O'Mara (Brolin) warn her that the mook she's talking to is a thug, not a Hollywood talent scout? Nah. He just follows the pair back to the hideout, knocks a bunch of bad guys around, then rescues the dame. But that's O'Mara for you — a man in full possession of a hero complex but lacking any semblance of finesse or sense. The whole movie is like that.
Intensely violent and dripping with period detail, Gangster Squad would have you believe that it's in the same tradition as The Untouchables or L.A. Confidential, but it's a sad knockoff in spite of its A-list cast. The gist is that O'Mara leads an off-the-books cop crew - including Gosling as the hot one and Giovanni Ribisi as the smart one - looking to take down ruthless gangster Mickey Cohen, a salty slab of ham played by Penn. (Forgive Penn. He's just trying to live up to the Dick Tracy-villain mask that is Cohen's face.) Though it has no shortage of bullets, the movie has nothing new to add to the cops-and-mobsters genre, with its forehead-slapper of a plot bursting with clichés. Plus it wastes Stone as Cohen's two-timing moll Grace, giving her nothing to do but look pretty and/or vulnerable. An actress that talented used as a prop? Now that's criminal.
The Chemistry of Ryan Gosling
By Michelle Tauber
The man, the meme, the mama's boy: Inside the private world of the star who has driven fans to obsession - and what's really going on with his love life
Hey girl, sometimes dreams do come true. Last fall, officials at the Texas School for the Deaf in Austin hoped to entice Ryan Gosling to attend a charity fund-raiser by posting an open invitation in the form of the flirty "hey girl" Internet meme that riffs on his don't-you-wish-he-was-your-hipster-boyfriend reputation. The day of the event, Gosling shocked organizers by turning up-with Rooney Mara and Michael Fassbender, his costars in the untitled Terrence Malick film shooting in town. Gosling happily mingled, took photos with a long line of excited parents and kids, and at one point, "he paid $50 for a $1 glow-in-the-dark cotton candy," says Anne Adams, executive director of the school's foundation. "He insisted on learning the sign for please and thank you so he could properly show his appreciation to the child. He deserves every one of those 'hey girls!'"
And so the perennial Sexiest Man Alive-in-Waiting (hmm, someone should get on that) continues to perfect the art of Being Ryan Gosling. In the past year, the 32-year-old actor cheered on his mom at her college graduation, doted on his dog George and homeless pups at an Austin pet rescue group, honed his blogworthy biceps via Muay Thai kickboxing, and worked on four films, including the new thriller Gangster Squad. But the guy who makes both double-breasted suits and tank tops look cool still struggles to wear the sex-symbol thing lightly. "You just try not to think about it, and you take advantage of the fact that you have these opportunities that you can control - who you work with and what you make," Gosling told PEOPLE at the Jan. 7 Gangster Squad premiere in L.A. "You try and do the best [you can] with that freedom."
In addition to many, many pairs of skinny jeans, the year also brought some bumps in the road for his romance with actress Eva Mendes, 37, whom he fell for in late 2011 while filming The Place Beyond the Pines. They broke up last March, only to reunite in May. But they haven't been spotted together since Nov. 26, sparking heated fan speculation - wishful thinking? - that he might be back on the market. Sorry, but the two are still going strong - so much so that Gosling's mom, Donna, boasted of raiding Mendes's closet for her premiere outfit. "The nice thing about their relationship is they don't put so much pressure on it," says a source who knows both stars. "It doesn't feel overly complicated." Adds a Gosling source: "Ryan and Eva get along so well because she's not needy or smothering. They just work."
Meanwhile, Gosling continues to dub-step to the beat of his own drummer. Since his breakout role in 2004's The Notebook, the Ontario-bred actor has mostly stuck to indie productions, with Gangster Squad his biggest-budget film yet. A restless kid who was homeschooled by his single mom after starting fights, the former Mickey Mouse Club star has struck a few colleagues as aloof. But others offer raves. "I don't think he's cocky," says stylist Blair Levin. "He's down to earth and super nice." His Gangster Squad director Ruben Fleischer calls him "funny and charming. When you're with him you feel different. He has a magnetic quality-larger than life."
For all his studied quirks - ballet classes! ukelele! Marlon Brando voice! - Gosling has a traditional side when it comes to relationships. The serial monogamist, who gushed that he had "two of the greatest girlfriends of all time" (referring to Rachel McAdams and Sandra Bullock, reportedly), deserves his rep as "an incredibly sweet boyfriend," says a source close to him. "He has such good manners." Though Mendes has said she's not the marrying kind, Gosling "adores kids and can't wait to be a dad," says another source. "He's going to make an amazing father one day." Hey boy, it's decided: You're a dream guy, like it or not.
Contributors:
With Jennifer Garcia/L.A.,
Aili Nahas/L.A.,
Scott Huver/L.A.,
Pernilla Cedenheim/L.A.,
Catherine Kast/New York.
"Women love Ryan because he's just kooky. He's definitely in touch with his childlike side" - A Gosling Source.
Is Eva the One?
Independent and smart, the Miami-born Mendes "is feminine and flirty, but she's also low-key and a guy's girl," says a source. "It seems like she keeps him grounded."
He Looks Good in...
- James Brown's Old Tux
- Purple!
- P.J.'s in Broad Daylight
- Your Sister's Tank Top
- '80s Yuppie Glasses
- Estelle Getty's Cardigan
- The Brawny Man's Castoffs
- Prince Charles's Suit
- But He Looks Best... [shirtless!]
His Tattoos Decoded:
He Did This One Himself! - The monster's hand with a bloody heart ended up looking "like a cactus," he has said.
His Favorite Children's Book - Gosling's mom read him the bittersweet Shel Silverstein fable The Giving Tree.
Once a Mouseketeer... - The former All New Mickey Mouse Club star (above, in '92), loves to romance his girlfriends at Disneyland. Right: with Mendes in 2011.
In His Corner - "Any woman who's with him needs to get along with George," a friend says of Gosling's dog. The same goes for his mom, Donna (at the Gangster Squad premiere Jan. 7).
