Ryan Gosling talks with StageBuddy about working with director Nicolas Winding Refn in his new film, "Only God Forgives".  Ryan plays Julian, a cowardly son, unable to stand up to his mother (Kristin Scott Thomas), who forces him to avenge his brother's death.

At the film's Q&A, the director compared "Only God Forgives" to "Drive," in which Gosling also appeared.  "If 'Drive' is like cocaine, then 'Only God Forgives' is like acid" he said.  The film includes several graphic scenes, one of which was suggested by Gosling -- though the actor joked that he'd been allowed to speak more at the Q&A than he had been while working on the film (he has many visual scenes with no dialogue).

StageBuddy: How was it shooting in Thailand, had you ever been there before?

Ryan Gosling: Yeah, I had been there before but it was strange to work there, I mean it's very different than working here, it's just so fun, and it's such an interesting place. Just the environment contributed a lot to the atmosphere of the film.

StageBuddy: Why did you want to play a bad guy? What attracted you to this character?

Gosling: When you work with Nick, you don't really know what's going to happen because he makes his movies in chronological order. So I had a rough idea of the story, and I had read the script, but I knew from "Drive" that he was going to throw that out. So every day was something new. It's more of a video game, it's not a character. It's more of an Avatar because it's a vehicle for the audience to experience the movie, so it required not talking and not having a personal investment on what was going on, and being the eyes and ears of the audience, as part of this dream world that he was trying to create.

StageBuddy:  I heard you kick some ass in the film, too. Did you have any martial arts training before shooting?

Gosling:  No, and I wasn't very good at it, so I got my ass kicked for most of the film, actually. It's funny because the trailer makes it look like I'm tough, but I'm not. People will be surprised when they see the film because I don't fare very well in any of these fights.

Here's the trailer of the film, so you can check it out for yourself:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9ziAWl9AEA[/youtube]