Ryan Gosling & Nicolas Winding Refn May Team Up Again For An Undisclosed "Pop Culture Franchise"

Actor Says He'd Consider A Role Like 'The Flash' If The Danish Filmmaker Was Directing; Has Discussed 'Wonder Woman' With Him Too

EXCLUSIVE: We recently sat down and talked with Ryan Gosling about Derek Cianfrance's very-excellent and now R-Rated relationship drama “Blue Valentine,” and yes, of course our conversation veered off into other topics chiefly Gosling's upcoming collaboration with Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn on the action drama, "Drive," co-starring Carey Mulligan. A big fan of the director's gnarly, twisted and previous works like the prison drama, "Bronson," or the near-psychedelic, meditative Viking actioner,"Valhalla Rising," Gosling told us himself that he had handpicked Refn to direct "Drive."

"It was just so exciting to see somebody do what they were actually talking about," Gosling said of Refn's walk-it-like-he-talks-it-method. "Sometimes you talk about movies in this really idealistic way, like 'Wouldn’t it be great if it was like this, or like that?' To be on set and actually see that happening was wonderful."

Rumored to have been sought for the lead in "Green Lantern," Gosling has mentioned in past interviews that he's been rather reticent to take on a superhero or franchise role, but he did start singing a fairly different tune in our interview. Or at least he'd consider it with the right filmmaker.

"I mean, I’m not actively looking for [a franchise]," Gosling qualified, "It would be like, 'Who’s directing it, what’s the story?' Gosling acknowledged that he and Refn had talked about the filmmaker's obsession with bringing "Wonder Woman" to the screen ("He’s talked to me about Wonder Woman. They should totally let him do it."). The conversation then again turned to superheroes and Refn.

"If Nicolas wanted to do 'The Flash'... " he paused for a second to reflect. "I don’t know. I’d probably have to think about it."

"We’re actually talking about doing something a type [of franchise]," he said. "I can't tell you what it is, but it’s [known], it's a part of pop culture. I’d be interested in trying it with someone like him."

Pretty vague. Any guesses? "Blue Valentine" hits theaters in limited release on December 31. We'll have more from this interview, plus conversations with Michelle Williams and Derek Cianfrance soon. And congrats on that R-rating.