Ryan Gosling’s Forgotten Debut As A Muscular (Almost) Demigod – Grazia

There is one thing that Ryan Goslin always knew was that he would become a showman. But did he suspect that he would be where he is today given what he has been through?

Ryan Gosling, the scene to channel

As a kid, Ryan was a bad boy. Out of spite. He suffers from an attention disorder, he has difficulty reading, he has no friends, and at school he is bullied because of his problems. He defends himself, gets fired… His mother quits her job, homeschools him (“It gave me a sense of autonomy that I never really lost”) and encourages him to explore his passions – music, comedy, classical dance (in which he does not excel). At 8, he sang at weddings with his sister, he even accompanied his uncle, an Elvis Presley impersonator, on stage. “he was wonderful and inspired me, it was cool”.

At 13, Ryan crosses a threshold, passes and succeeds in a casting organized by disney. He left his native Canada for Florida where he joined the Mickey Mouse Club and its seed of stars – who are named Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake. The adventure lasts two years. Then, Ryan returns to Canada and continues the roles in teen series : but if, remember, you have certainly seen it in Goosebumps, scare me or Cruise class ! Afterwards, he goes to Los Angeles, gets an agent and, at 17, his destiny changes when he is chosen to be the hero of a new series…

Ryan Gosling, this demigod…

We are in 1998. For three years, a mythological series has met with great success: Hercules. Starring Kevin Sorbo as the son of the almighty Zeus and a mere mortal, Alcmene. The series, created by Robert Tapert, works so well that it is entitled to a prequel. It will be Hercules versus Ares (Or Young Hercules in VO) and it is Ryan Gosling who lands the main role. On a stroke of luck.

In the pilot it is Ian Bohen who lends his features to the young demigod, he actually resumes his role held in four episodes ofHercules. But the actor has no desire to spend his life in New Zealand where the series is filmed, so he gives up.

Ryan, who did not ask for so much, replaces him at short notice and packs his bags. He flies to New Zealand, takes intensive martial arts lessons from the same trainer as Kevin Sorbo and Lucy Lawless (Xena!), learns to fight against imaginary creatures (understand added in post-production) but does not draw a plan on the comet. There celebrity hanging in his face ? “I try not to think about it. We’re going to try to make the best show possible for the kids when they come home from school, when they forget their homework, that kind of thing. I focus on thathe explains in one of his first interviews. It doesn’t matter what happens in my career. Even if I no longer work afterwards. »

However, the producers are a little skeptical about it. Because he’s tall, but above all very thin… But they’re amazed by his talent. So, we manage: we resize his suit to make it look larger, he puts on a nice tight leather pants, we do some contouring on his arms to make them look more muscular. And we cover it in self-tanner.

How is filming going? He is intense. We save money and time, four episodes are filmed simultaneously. Proof that all is not easy? Hercules versus Ares lasts only one season, it is broadcast from September 1998 to May 1999 and has no less than 50 episodes ! Enough to bring poor Ryan to his knees… Who is not unhappy that the series does not go further. Just like his eldest, Herculesarrived, too, out of breath.

In 2002, questioned by the Vancouver Sun about this experience, he admits: “I did the show because it was fun. But I wanted to make films, to have more time to immerse myself in a character and try to play others. And I said to myself, ‘never again television’”. But he will never regret having played in Hercules and Ares. In 2000, he acted in his first filmThe most beautiful fight.

*And Ian Bohen SO ? Him, he has almost never left the world of the series. Among other things, he played Peter Hale in Teen Wolfand we saw it inSuperman and Lois and Yellowstone (Kevin Costner’s western series).