Ryan Gosling and Steve Carell have been Hollywood staples for years now, but one fun fact about the two men you may not have known? They actually worked together on the first of Gosling’s big movie roles in Hollywood. That role was the flick The Unbelievables, a TV movie about blue collar superheroes, which Gosling booked after a stint of TV roles including Young Hercules and Goosebumps.
As it was his first time on a movie set, Gosling said he was really looking to soak up as many experiences as possible. One of these opportunities just so happened to be getting to watch Steve Carell do a bunch of ad-libbing, though he also had a small role in the film. Years later, Gosling recalled the vivid memory and how he distinctly remembers the boom mic operator not being able to do his job because The Office cast member was so funny.
My first job in Hollywood was with Steve Carell and we both had sort of small parts. We didn’t have any scenes together, and so I went on set to watch him work. He was so funny that the boom operator had to throw down his boom and hold his ribs, that’s so hard he was laughing. It was the first time I had seen that or even thought that was possible. I knew I had to sort of up my game.
It’s amazing to hear Ryan Gosling tell Variety this behind-the-scenes story and what it meant for him and his career overall, particularly when it came to realizing he had adjustments to make. Years later, he may not be joke-joke-joke funny in the same way Steve Carell is, but we’ve seen him really invest in comedic roles, from the wry (and underrated) The Nice Guys to his recent 2024 Academy Award-nominated turn as Ken in Barbie.
This wasn’t the last time Carell and Gosling would get to do movie work together. He noted the two reunited for Crazy, Stupid, Love and the younger actor had one expectation for himself when he knew they would be onscreen together.
I didn’t to work with him [in scene] in that, but when I did finally get to work with him, I wanted to be prepared.
No word on whether or not a boom mic operator dropped a mic filming the romantic dramedy, but Carell does play a much more low-key character in the film, so one would hope not. It does make me wish I could have been a fly on the wall when Carell was filming roles like The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Anchorman. Though Paul Rudd has said the cameramen on Anchorman were less pleased about the excess jokes.
Gosling and Carell would appear in the same film once more in 2015’s well-reviewed The Big Short. Ultimately, this whole story makes me realize I’d love to see them do more of a comedy-comedy together, however. Both actors are still very much in the business of Hollywood, and while a gig like this may not be set for the 2024 movies release schedule in the near future, I can very much hope someone finds another great vehicle for the two down the line.