Ryan Gosling Shares Hilarious Story About Working With Burt Reynolds

Ryan Gosling is sharing the reality of his experience working with Burt Reynolds. The 43-year-old The Fall Guy actor co-starred in the 1996 movie Frankenstein and Me with the late Deliverance actor, who died at the age of 82 on Sept. 6, 2018. Gosling revealed earlier this month on Jimmy Kimmel Live! that during the production of that movie, Reynolds really took “a shine” to him – although “it’s complicated.”

Asked by host Jimmy Kimmel on May 1 whether or not Reynolds was friendly on set, the Barbie star revealed that he was, but mostly likely because the Smokey and the Bandit star had a thing for his mother, Donna. “It’s complicated,” said Gosling, who was a young teen during filming. “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.”

The Notebook star continued, “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.’” When Kimmel asked how long it took for Gosling to figure out what was going on, the Canadian actor joked, “I wish I had found out sooner!” He clarified that while his mom “loved” the attention, “nothing” ever happened between her and the Gator star.

Kimmel pointed out, “You could have been Ryan Reynolds on the acting scene. had that worked out,” in reference to the IF actor. “This close,” Gosling joked, adding that The Longest Yard actor also gave him an “odd piece of advice” during their time working together.

“He was like, ‘Let me tell you something kid, Don’t spend your whole life stepping over diamonds to live with a cubic zirconia,’” Gosling remembered, adding, “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.”

The legendary actor would also “sign stuff all the time” for fans, Gosling shared, and told “all the kids” not to see his film Deliverance, “which is, of course, the first thing we did.” The La La Land actor quipped, “We should’ve listened to him.”