Ryan Gosling has come a long way since in 2014, he offered his first directorial film, a bitter failure which was only released on 3 screens in the United States!
This first film was such a flop that it extinguished any desire for its director to repeat the experience. Actor Ryan Gosling put a lot of heart into this feature film entitled Lost River, which turned out to be a total failure, sacrificed by his studio, to the point that the interpreter of Ken in the recent Barbie never appeared again behind the camera.
Warner Bros. Christina Hendricks
Presented at the Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section, Lost River leaves empty-handed, and following the film’s poor reviews, Warner is completely hesitant to resell the distribution rights for the project to another studio!
This is one of Barbie’s best scenes and she almost didn’t make it in the movie!
A single mother, Billy (Christina Hendricks) is in debt and faces eviction from her home. His banker has just been fired and his replacement (Ben Mendelsohn) refuses him a new loan. Among his sons, Franky is still a child but Bones (Iain De Caestecker) is trying to become a copper thief. Except that he comes up against the presence of Bully (Matt Smith), who makes him understand that no one except him is stealing the copper from Lost River…
Warner Bros.
Matt Smith
Ryan Gosling gave birth to this film by chance. While filming Marches of Power in Detroit, he walked and filmed the streets. He was quickly arrested, accused of copper theft. It was this misadventure that gave him the idea for the main character of Lost River, a project that he decided to write and direct.
Stanislav Honzik/Netflix
Ryan Gosling
His directing style is inspired by the human dramas of Derek Cianfrance (with whom he filmed Blue Valentine and The Place Beyond The Pines) and the styling and lighting effects of Nicolas Winding Refn. He gets help for this from the talented Benoît Debie, photo director of Gaspard Noé. Unfortunately, good influences and an excellent technician do not always make a good film.
Warner Bros.
Ben Mendelsohn
Following the poor reception of Lost River in Cannes, Warner decided to release it in complete anonymity in the United States: three cinemas programmed it for three weeks, which only brought in paltry sum of $45,431 in 21 days of operation. A slap in the face for Ryan Gosling, who was then at the height of his glory after the sequence of Blue Valentine (2010), Drive (2011), The Place Beyond The Pines and Gangster Squad (2013).
Warner Bros.
The actor will only return to the top with La La Land by Damien Chazelle (2017), a tribute film to the Hollywood musical with six Oscars, including a Best Actor nomination for Ryan Gosling.