Last week there were rumours Ryan Gosling might star in a rom-com that Nicolas Winding Refn was planning to direct. That’s turned out to be sort-of true, as Gosling is indeed set to reunite with Drive director Refn on a film called Only God Forgives, but it’s far more drama than comedy.
According to Variety, Gosling will Julian, a career criminal who runs a drug smuggling operation out of a Bangkok boxing gym. Despite being well respected by his criminal peers, Julian feels a void deep inside him. After he meets a retired cop dubbed The Angel of Death, the criminal realises he must confront his mother about the issues that have long troubled him.
Luke Evans had been attached to star, but it appears Gosling is replacing him, probably because Evans is now off to Middle Earth for The Hobbit. Kristin Scott Thomas is also signed up for Only God Forgives, presumably playing the mother character. The script was original written for a British lead character, and it isn’t clear if this will change with Gosling’s involvement
Refn is aiming for an early fall shoot. This may not be the director and actor’s last collaboration either, as they’re both still attached to the long-gestating Logan’s Run remake, which has been bubbling away in Hollywood for years.