Ryan Gosling Shares How This Famous Actor Developed a Crush on His Mom on a Set While Working With Him

During his appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Ryan Gosling spoke about his collaboration with late actor, Burt Reynolds, on his first film, Frankenstein and Me, which came out in 1996. In response to Jimmy Kimmel's query about whether or not Reynolds had a thing for his mother Donna, Gosling revealed, "It’s complicated because I thought he took a shine to me. I thought he thought there was something special about me. And then I realized that I have a really beautiful mom," HuffPost reported.

He continued, "He was just kind of interested. I was getting a secondary shine. The real shine was for my mom." Additionally, Gosling disclosed that the infatuation was interestingly, not one-sided. He remarked, "Oh my god, she loved it." Kimmel then joked that had Gosling's mother married Reynolds, his surname might have been different. "You could have been Ryan Reynolds if that worked out."

In Frankenstein and Me, Gosling portrayed the adolescent Kenny, while Reynolds played Les Williams. The film, directed by Robert Tinnell, centers on 12-year-old Earl Williams (Jamieson Boulanger), who develops fantasies of bringing the Frankenstein doll to life after seeing it tumble off the back of a truck. 

Gosling acknowledged that Reynolds was 'friendly' and often signed autographs for him, but he still believes it was done just to win his mother over. He continued, "He gave me this odd piece of advice. He was like, 'Let me tell you something kid, Don't spend your whole life stepping over diamonds to live with a cubic zirconia.' I was like, 'I'm 13. I don't know what any of those things are.'"

Gosling’s parents, Donna and Thomas, split when he was a teenager. Subsequently, he grew up with his mother and sister in Canada. Over the years, Gosling has often credited his mom for nurturing his passion for acting. Recently, he accompanied his family to the 2024 Osars in March. His mother, stepfather Valerio Attanasio, and sister Mandi joined Gosling on the red carpet. Mandi also attended the 2017 event with him when he received a Best Actor nomination for La La Land. During one of the interviews with W Magazine, Gosling opened up about one of the skills he learned from his mother.

He confessed at the time, "My mom used to bake as a side hustle, and I’ve been lucky enough to get the pie gene." Margot Robbie's anguish and dismay at Gosling's talent were visible during the chat. She joked, "I feel hurt that you've never made me one." He continued, "I flute my crust too, so don’t let anyone tell you that I don’t! It's where you thumb the edges and you make like a nice little, almost like a braid."