Faculty high
‘I'VE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO REALISE ANYTHING ABOUT MY LIFE'
From Mormon to Mickey Mouse mouthpiece actor Ryan Gosling is not your average film star. He tells Tom Dawson some half-truths about his new film Half Nelson
he yersatile. chameleon-like (‘anadian actor Ryan (iosliitg has consistently been drawn to dark. emotionally troubling roles. He has played a Jewish neo—Na/i in The Believer. a teenage killer who flirts with the inyestigating policewoman in .l/lll‘dt’l‘ by Mun/Mrs. and a student planning to make his own
suicide at “great work ol~ art. in .S'Iuy. Now in llu/y/~
.\"o/.wm he's an inner~city teacher. seeking refuge from his disillusionment and confusion in crack cocaine.
The 26-year-old (iosling‘s compelling performance in the lilm led to him being nominated l‘or the Best Actor prize at this year's ()scars. Yet. speaking to (iosling just before last Christmas. it was clear that the desire for wider recognition wasn't the driying l’actor behind his participation in [ml/Nelson.
‘I just read it and it stuck out like a sore thumbf he explains in a measured drawl. ‘I felt when l read it that it was about people I‘d met or who I would meet alter l‘d read it. I didn't recognise many clear character arcs. which I liked. And there was a sell-righteousness to the characters. These were people who got embarrassed
and were inappropriate and were in conllict. The sort of
things we deal with all the time in real life. but don't get shown in l‘ilms. The director Ryan l’leck hadn’t originally thought ol’ me for the role. but then that‘s how all my best moyies start.’
(iosling has little time for the tired storytelling conyentions contained in most of the scripts he‘s sent. ‘You know how in moyies people realise stuff about themselyes and are able to implement it into their liyes’.’ he continues. ‘Well l'ye neyer been able to do that and I
don‘t think I‘m alone in that. What I felt about Half
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Nelson was that I could relate to the day to day struggles ol‘ the characters. eyen iii the specifics are dil‘l‘erent from my own struggles.‘
lt‘s tempting to read (iosling‘s preference for taboo- breaking parts as a rebellion against the strictures ol‘ his childhood growing up in small-town Ontario to strict Mormon parents. He followed his older sister around to local auditions and talent contests. and by the age of IE he’d moyed to lilorida alter winning a presenting slot on The .l’llt'lxt’)‘ .l/(lllSt’ (711/). where his colleagues included Britney Spears. (‘hristina Aguilera and .ltistin 'l‘imberlakc. llis perl‘ormance in The Believer. made when he was still a teenager. earned him stellar reyiews. but it‘s only recently that he has realised: 'I was steering my own career. l-‘or a long time I was on autopilot. making decisions I didn't really think about.‘
llaying long linished lilming the psychological thriller l-‘rm'lun’ (also otit this fortnight) alongside Anthony Hopkins. and haying recently completed Lars and the Real (iirl. a lilm about a man who falls in loye with a sex doll. (iosling is preparing to direct his own debut feature The Lord's R(‘.\'l.\'l(lll('(’. which deals with child soldiers in Africa. ‘The best piece of adyice l receiyed was from 'l‘errence Malick. l told him I was writing a script and he said to me. "Don't spend too long writing the script. Mm'ics tell you what they want to be while you are making them. not while you are writing them”.'
Half Nelson is at Cineworld Renfrew Street, Glasgow from Fri 20 Apr and Cameo, Edinburgh from Fri 4 May. Fracture is on general release from Fri 20 Apr.
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THE BEST FILM & DVD RELEASES .
.71!
>i< The Lives of Others Before the fall of the Berlin wall the East German secret police persecute a radical playwright in this excellent Oscar-winning German thriller. See review, page 44. Selected release from Fri 73 Apr.
:2: Curse of the Golden Flower King Lear meets the Tang dynasty in Zhang House of the Flying Daggers Yimou’s latest wirework epic. See review, page 44. General release from Fri 73 Apr.
=§< Half Nelson See interview. left. See Cineworld Renfrew Street, Glasgow from Fri 20 Apr.
:2: French Film Festival Three weeks of delicious Gallic fare includes new films from Costa—Gavras and Claude Chabrol plus hilarious spoof secret agent thriller 088 7 77: Cairo— Nest of Spies. See preview page 45. wwwtrenchfilmfestival.org.uk. GFT, Glasgow; Filmhouse, Edinburgh 8 Vue Ocean. Edinburgh.
=3: Reign On Me Adam Sandler makes the second decent film of his career playing a widower with post traumatic stress syndrome in this comedy of human frailty. See review, page 43. General release from Fri 20 Apr.
:5: SunshineThe sun is dying and there is nothing we can do about it in Danny Boyle’s exceptionally fine sci-fi thriller. General release from Fri 6 Apr. =1: Los Olvidados Luis Bunuel's stunning 1950 social surrealist masterwork set in the slums of Mexico City. GFT, Glasgow from Tue 7 7—Thu 79 Apr.
=§= El Topo More Mexican madness with Alexandro Jodorowsky’s long unavailable cult psychedelic spaghetti western. Fl/mhouse, Edinburgh, Fri 73 Apr; GFI’, Glasgow, Tue 77 & Wed 78 Apr.
=2: Fritz Lang Box Set Five of the German silent filmmaker's best. including Metropolis in one DVD set. Out Mon 23 Apr (Eureka).