Arriving in limited theatrical release and VOD today is Ryan Gosling‘s directorial debut Lost River, a nightmarish drama set against the surreal landscape of a vanishing city as we follow a single mother of two who is swept into a macabre and dark fantasy underworld. Following its Cannes debut (our review), WB have decided to keep things light on the U.S. press side, opting rather to send the director and some of his cast to Europe for a press tour. We’ve now got a pair of extensive conversations, along with a SXSW post-screening Q&A from last month.
The first comes from London (thanks to Meet the Filmmaker), where Gosling and Matt Smith gathered to talk about inspirations for the film, working with non-actors in Detroit as they stumbled on set, shooting footage for around a year before production actually started, and more. Gosling notes Ben Mendelsohn‘s improvisations, which included perhaps the best scene of the film, where he surprised his director by dancing to Kendrick Lamar, 2 Chainz, Drake, and A$AP Rocky playing in the background.
Speaking to his intentions of the film, Gosling adds, “We were trying to do our version of Goonies or Secret of NIMH or those early [Steven] Spielberg/Amblin films by way of how we feel about movies now. Those 80’s films were a big inspiration, for sure.” Also featuring a 45-minute talk with Reda Kateb in Paris (which is admittedly a bit of a difficult watch due to translations), check out everything below along with an alternate poster by Adam Cockerton.
Lost River is now in limited release and available on VOD.