Update: Jeff Sneider at Variety reports that Gosling is indeed in talks to star and Luke Evans dropped due to his commitment with Peter Jackson‘s The Hobbit. They also report that the film is aiming for a release in the second half of 2012 after a November shoot.
This is getting a little ridiculous, in the best way possible. You have Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro (and Leonardo DiCaprio), John Carpenter and Kurt Russell, Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune; the list goes on and on of epic repeat director/actor pairings. We can confidently add another to the list. Nicolas Winding Refn, who broke-out with the Pusher trilogy, Bronson, and most recently Valhalla Rising, has found a favorite actor in Ryan Gosling.
The duo teamed up for the utterly excellent Drive, then plan to team again for a big-budget update to Logan’s Run, then they recently expressed interest on teaming together for a “dark” romantic comedy set in NYC. Now, they’ve decided to get together again.
We had a hint that Refn was looking for another big star for his neo-western Only God Forgives (Transformers: Dark of the Moon star Shia LaBeouf was rumored), but now Twitch has sources that indicate Gosling has joined the project. Kristin Scott-Thomas is on board, but we don’t know if Luke Evans is being replaced, or Gosling will take his role. Check out a synopsis of the film below.
Julian lives in exile in Bangkok where he runs a Thai boxing club as a front for the family’s drugs smuggling operation. When Julian’s brother Billy is killed their mother, Jenna, arrives in the city. She wants revenge and forces Julian to find the killer. Julian’s contacts in the criminal underworld lead him directly to The Angel of Vengeance, a retired police officer who knows everything and who is both Judge and Punisher. Jenna demands that Julian kill The Angel of Vengeance, an act that will cost him dearly.
In the meantime you can set your calendars to September 16th, because one of the best films of the year rides into theaters and you will all understand why Gosling is a perfect fit for Refn, and vice versa, in Drive.
What do you think about Gosling teaming up yet again with Refn?