It’s only a matter of time before any and every Hollywood actor gets tempted by the dump-truck of money that’s involved with being cast as a Marvel superhero. And what better time to take the leap than when you are literally the hottest thing in Hollywood and can make whatever demands you choose. And Disney is clearly eager to attach positive reception to their projects through the goodwill fans have for one of Hollywood's most beloved actors. While there have been career-defining successes as Hollywood stars attempt to make their mark on the growing-tired superhero genre, there have been many embarrassing shortfalls that those stars would sooner forget. Some stars have even been known to dip their toes in more than once, appearing as multiple different caped crusaders across the films of different studios… sometimes even within the same studio's or even franchises.
If you’re used to Gosling in recent roles as the insecure and endearingly awkward characters. Such as Ryland Grace in the latest blockbuster adaptation of yet another Andy Weir sci-fi novel about a guy lost in space. Or as the equally insecure yet dim-witted and eager-to-please Ken in 2023’s Barbie movie. Then announcing Gosling for a role like Ghost Rider, aka stuntman Johnny Blaze, might seem like a strange fit. But those Millennial audiences who first became acquainted with Gosling through his portrayal of the grim, silent, nameless stunt driver anti-hero in 2011’s “Drive” or as the troubled motorcycle stuntman Luke Glanton from 2012’s “The Place Beyond the Pines” (or even as the silent brooding replicant Officer K in “Bladerunner 2049”) will be all too familiar with Gosling being cast as a soft-spoken vehicle-driving stuntman turned violent and misunderstood anti-hero.
Other than 2024’s “Fall Guy” (in which he played yet another stuntman), Ryan Gosling can’t miss recently. His role in “Star Wars: Starfighter”, now in post-production, will be his first film truly returning to his roots as a troubled and brooding vehicle driver in a decade. Which has me cautiously optimistic about the latest Lucasfilm venture after a long series of missteps on both streaming and the silver screen have divided the Star Wars fanbase. Again, Disney is quite literally cashing in on Gosling's rising star, a move that worked well for them when they attached themselves to the other most-recent Hollywood king, Pedro Pascal. After accepting the Disney dump truck of money from Disney's Lucasfilm for his role in “Star Wars: Starfighter," it's not surprising that the Disney dump truck of money from Marvel would soon follow.
The upcoming film's logo is even set to ditch the 2000s logo and return to the 90s version of the branding, with some small tweaks and a color scheme that really evokes the cyberpunk/outrun aesthetic that audiences associate with these Gosling roles. What's more, the simplistic red coloring all but belongs on the cover of a Kavinsky album (RIP), whose 2010 French Electro anthem, produced with Daft Punk's Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, was catapulted into the limelight by 2011's “Drive.”
Those with a keen memory will also remember that Gosling's wife costarred alongside Nicolas Cage in 2007's “Ghost Rider” by Sony Pictures. It has, admittedly, been a very long time since I watched Nicolas Cage’s venture into the role of Johnny Blaze, but I have to imagine, given Gosling’s approach to similar characters, that we’ll see a grittier version of the character this go-around without all of the camp that Cage and the 00s CGI brought to the screen. But with Shawn Levy set to direct hot off the heels of 2024’s “Deadpool and Wolverine” and 2021’s “Free Guy,” maybe camp isn’t off the table, and the studio is planning to lean into the more ridiculous aspects of the character, who has a flaming skull for a head and shoots fire from his hands. Either way, it’s likely to be a CGI-heavy affair, and the quality of those effects (and the methods used to create them) could heavily dictate the audience's reception of the character.
Gosling has made it quite clear both in the announcement and in interviews that this is a character he has wanted to play for a long time, and in news since the announcement it has been revealed that Gosling himself made the pitch that won Shawn Levy and Marvel Studios over. This sounds oddly reminiscent of another story we heard in the 2010s about another Ryan who was at the top of Hollywood at that time. But maybe I'm just a skeptic, and that's just a coincidence.
Either way. “Ghost Rider” is coming and has officially got a release date of July 28, 2028. So there will be a bit of a wait before we see Gosling behind the flaming skull.
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