Ryan Gosling Explains Why He Doesn't Make Movies That Will 'Put Me in Some Kind of Dark Place'

Ryan Gosling is keeping it lighter these days.

In a new profile to accompany his cover shoot for WSJ. Magazine's June/July issue, the Fall Guy star said that in his career now, "I don't really take roles that are going to put me in some kind of dark place."

"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," explained Gosling, 43. "The decisions I make, I make them with [longtime partner Eva Mendes] and we make them with our family in mind first."

Since welcoming his two daughters with Mendes — Esmeralda, 9, and Amada, 8 — he has taken on roles that have run the gamut from musical to comedy and more.

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Warner Bros. Pictures; Eric Laciste/Universal Pictures; Dale Robinette/Black Label Media/Kobal/Shutterstock

"I think La La Land was the first," Gosling told the magazine. "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."

The father of two also said that his girls' "interest in Barbie and their disinterest in Ken was an inspiration" to him taking on the role of the latter in Greta Gerwig's Barbie, which nabbed him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

"They were already making little movies about their Barbies on the iPad when it happened, so the fact that I was going off to work to make one too, we just felt like we were aligned," Gosling said.

In general, "I'm trying to just figure out who they are and be there for them in the way that I can," he added of Esmeralda and Amada. "They're such clear and distinct personalities that it's sort of becoming obvious."

Cass Bird for WSJ. Magazine

Before starring in lighter fare like La La Land (2016), Barbie (2023) and the upcoming action-comedy The Fall Guy, Gosling was known for more dramatic and darker roles too, in films like The Notebook (2004), Blue Valentine (2010) and Drive (2011).

But his daughters have requests even for his not-so-dramatic roles! "My kids didn't want me to be set on fire," Gosling, who also co-produced The Fall Guy, recently told PEOPLE of Esmeralda and Amada's asks for the movie.

Going on to say the girls "asked specifically" that he avoid any pyrotechnics, the actor added, "Even though I said, 'Well, it's actually, technically the safer thing to do because there's a lot of protective stuff involved.' "

"[They] "were like, 'No. No fire.' So I didn't do it," Gosling said.

The Fall Guy is in theaters Friday, May 3.