Ryan Gosling wants a do-over on 'La La Land' scene that 'haunts' him

Published on May 2, 2024 04:06PM EDT

When La La Land sang and danced its way into theaters in 2016, it became a critical and box office hit while collecting a record-tying 14 Oscar nominations. But for all the film's success, leading man Ryan Gosling would like a do-over.

In a new video interview with WSJ Magazine, the Fall Guy and Barbie star admits that there's one part of his Oscar-nominated performance that he wishes he could take back. "There's a moment that haunts me where we're dancing, Emma [Stone] and I," he says. "I didn't know this would become the poster for the movie."

After taking a deep breath, he continues. "We were supposed to have our hands up, and I thought it'd be cool to put my hand like that," Gosling says, positioning his hand at a somewhat flat angle rather than gesturing skyward. "Even though everyone told me it wasn't cool, I was sure that [a flat hand] was cooler than [pointing up]. Now when I look at it and I have to see it all the time, you know what would have been cooler than this? That."

When the moment crystallized as the instantly recognizable movie poster, it became more than just a decision in the scene. "It just killed the energy that way," Gosling laments. "It was sort of like all leading to what? It's just a lazy… I call it 'La La Hand.'"

Told that dancers have a term for a similar awkward gesture, "hamburger hands," Gosling admits that it's news to him, despite his having some dance experience prior to shooting the movie. "I thought it would help in La La Land," he says of his dancing background. "Then, of course, Hamburger Hands Gosling over here… It didn't help me at all in the end."

Gosling discusses La La Land further in the accompanying WSJ Magazine article, citing the Damien Chazelle-directed film as one of the first he took on with his children and longtime partner Eva Mendes in mind. "I don't really take roles that are going to put me in some kind of dark place," he says. "This moment is what I feel like trying to read the room at home and feel like what is going to be best for all of us. The decisions I make, I make them with Eva and we make them with our family in mind first."

He adds, "I think La La Land was the first. It was just sort of like, 'Oh this will be fun for them, too,' because even though they're not coming to set, we're practicing piano every day or we're dancing or we're singing."

Watch the video above for more from Gosling.

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