Ryan Gosling Says He Doesn't Choose 'Dark' Roles Anymore So He Can Be Present at Home: 'Family in Mind First'

Ryan Gosling has a lot to consider when he's choosing his next role — including his family.

In an interview with WSJ. Magazine for their June/July issue, The Fall Guy actor, 43, spoke about one of his favorite roles — being a dad to his two daughters, Esmeralda Amada, 9, and Amada Lee, 8, whom he shares with longtime partner Eva Mendes.

The star said that as of late, he has been straying away from the more psychologically twisted roles so that he can be in a better mindset when he returns home from work to be with his family. "I don't really take roles that are going to put me in some kind of dark place," Gosling shared.

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"This moment is what I feel like trying to read the room at home and feel like what is going to be best for all of us. The decisions I make, I make them with Eva and we make them with our family in mind first."

Gosling said the decision to air on the lighter side of roles is a newer one.

"I think La La Land was the first," the dad of two said of his choice to shift gears. "It was sort of like, oh this will be fun for them too, because even though they're not coming to set, we're practicing piano every day or we're dancing or we're singing."

However, filming some of the stunts in his new movie The Fall Guy gave him pause, especially when he had to drop in from a safety harness from a ledge. "My body turns to stone," Gosling said of the stunt.

"I think it's happened when I had kids — really, you start to be way more conscious of everything you do and everything you've ever done and everything you will do if you get a chance to do it."

In a Today interview that premiered on Tuesday, April 23, Gosling and his costar Emily Blunt spoke about working together on The Fall Guy, where the dad of two revealed that his two daughters have an adorable nickname for Blunt.

"My kids call her Mary Poppins," he shared with a smile, referencing Blunt's 2018 role in Mary Poppins Returns. "They're like, 'Are you working with Mary Poppins today?' 'Yes, I am.'"