Ryan Gosling Once Revealed He Was Relieved He Wasn’t Nominated for an Oscar for ‘Blue Valentine’
Although some actors would be thrilled to be voted for an Oscar, Ryan Gosling actually preferred not to be nominated. At least not for his 2011 drama Blue Valentine.
Why Ryan Gosling doesn’t get invested in Oscar campaigns
Ryan Gosling isn’t a stranger to Oscar campaigns. He’s been nominated twice for starring in Half Nelson and La La Land. But even when he hasn’t been nominated, he’s given many performances that were at least discussed for an Oscar opportunity.
In a 2011 interview with Entertainment Weekly, he discussed his critically acclaimed performances for both Drive and Ides of March. He was asked which role he’d be campaigning for in regards to an Oscar nomination, but Gosling didn’t give the idea much thought. To him, there was only one benefit to being nominated for an Oscar. And that was to help promote smaller films he found important.
“Outside of the awareness that it brings to your film, I don’t really see what you get out of it. So for me, I was happy that it was involved in those dialogues, because it’s promotion for a film that for the most part can’t afford it,” he said.
Ryan Gosling was relieved he wasn’t nominated for ‘Blue Valentine’
Ryan Gosling gave another well-regarded performance in the independent drama Blue Valentine. As many know, the film chronicles the deteriorating romance of a married couple struggling to maintain their relationship. There was much talk surrounding Gosling possibly being nominated for the movie. But although his co-star Michelle Willians received the honor, Gosling didn’t. However, it was an honor that Gosling was glad he missed out on.
“I was relieved. It was perfect for me because Michelle got nominated so I didn’t have to do anything! She had to do all the work,” Gosling once told Total Film (via ElleCanada).
The work that Gosling didn’t have to do was the constant campaigning that usually came with these nominations.
“With Half Nelson there was no campaigning; I just suddenly got nominated. But on Blue Valentine we were with Harvey Weinstein who had us on the whole campaign trail,” he continued. “You really saw how much you have to do for these things. You have lunches and shake all the hands and you write notes to people. It’s so stressful, and you don’t know why you’re stressed out, you just are.”
Ryan Gosling got his first Oscar-nominated role by accident
Gosling originally didn’t plan on starring in the 2006 movie Half-Nelson, a teacher who’s experiencing drug addiction. In an interview with The Guardian, Gosling shared that he got the part by accident. He was helping a friend of his read lines for the script. The script impressed Gosling so much that he lobbied for a part in the film himself. Later on, The Notebook star would receive a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his role in the movie. This added a bit of responsibility to Gosling, who felt the need to prove himself worthy of the honor.
“It’s not like people looked at me and thought: Here’s a movie star,” he said. “Most of my life I’ve tried to prove people wrong about me, and now I kind of have to prove some people right.”
