Ryan Gosling divulged that, early in his career, he had a pleasant experience working with late Hollywood legend Burt Reynolds—likely because he had a crush on Gosling's mom.
Gosling mentioned this little tidbit during an appearance on Wednesday's Jimmy Kimmel Live! to promote his latest film playing a Hollywood stuntman in The Fall Guy, based on the 1980s TV series.
Kimmel mentioned Reynolds, who died in September 2018 at 82, for two reasons. First, similar to Gosling's Fall Guy lead character Colt Seavers, Reynolds began his career doing stunt work.
Second, Gosling and Reynolds worked together in 1996 on a film called Frankenstein and Me, which was Gosling's featured film debut when he was around 13 years old.
The late show host asked:
"Did you get time with Burt?"
Gosling replied that it was "complicated."
The 43-year-old Golden Globe winner continued:
"Because I thought he took a shine to me. I thought he thought there was something special about me."
"And then I realized that I have a really beautiful mom," he said of his mother Donna, who would accompany the young actor on set.
"He was just kind of interested. It was like I was getting like a secondary shine."
"The real shine was for my mom. And I was like, 'Oh, this is secondary shine.'"
Here is a clip of their exchange.
Kimmel then asked:
"How long did it take for you to figure it out?"
Gosling replied:
"I wish I had found out sooner."
@jimmykimmellove/Instagram
He said his mom liked the attention she received from Reynolds, who was quite a sex symbol in the '70s.
When the studio audience appeared to get restless with their imagination, Gosling calmed everyone down by assuring, "nothing happened."
@jimmykimmellove/Instagram
Kimmel joked:
"You could've been Ryan Reynolds on the acting scene if that worked out."
Gosling coyly chuckled and responded with a small pinching gesture and said, "This close."
@jimmykimmellove/Instagram
Pressed for more information about how Reynolds was on set, Gosling said the iconic actor was perfectly fine and noted that he forbade the younger cast members from watching Deliverance, which featured Reynold in his breakthrough role in 1972.
The film was notorious for its violent "squeal like a pig" scene where one of the male characters is sexually assaulted by another man.
"So of course, it's the first thing we did," Gosling flippantly recalled of his defiance.
@jimmykimmellove/Instagram
@jimmykimmellove/Instagram
He also remembered Reynolds giving him an "odd piece of advice."
"He was like, 'Let me tell you something kid, Don't spend your whole life stepping over diamonds to live with a cubic zirconia,' " recalled Gosling.
And when Kimmel asked him to elaborate on what that meant, Gosling responded:
"I was like, 'I'm 13. I don't know what any of those things are.' I don't know what any of that is. Stop looking at my mom. I'm right here."
@jimmykimmellove/Instagram
@jimmykimmellove/Instagram
@jimmykimmellove/Instagram
@jimmykimmellove/Instagram
The actor has been busy making appearances all around Hollywood to promote The Fall Guy, but it doesn't mean he's always dressed to the nines on the red carpet.
Fresh off the viral success of his SNL sketch playing Beavis from the adult animated series Beavis & Butt-Head, Gosling reprised his character along with SNL star Mikey Day as Butt-Head for The Fall Guy premiere in LA and hilariously crashed his co-star Emily Blunt's interview.
