Ryan Gosling Learned An Impressive Skill For His La La Land Role

One can always count on Ryan Gosling to go above and beyond for a movie role. Whether that's transforming his body or learning a new skill, the Hollywood leading man will go the extra mile to prepare for a character and bring in a convincing, nuanced performance in his films. For example, for his breakout role in "The Notebook" with Rachel McAdams, Gosling worked as a carpenter's apprentice to learn carpentry. He even built two chairs and a table that were used on the set of the film, according to HuffPost. 

Meanwhile, some may be surprised to know that Gosling was originally offered to play the father of Saoirse Ronan's character in "The Lovely Bones," but eventually lost out to Mark Wahlberg. Gosling prepared for the role by putting on a lot of weight without approval — 60 pounds to be exact— which he did by "melting Haagen Dazs and drinking it." The actor told The Hollywood Reporter, "I was 150 pounds when [director Peter Jackson] hired me, and I showed up on set 210 pounds." The two disagreed on what the character should look like. "I had gotten it wrong. Then I was fat and unemployed."

For his critically acclaimed film "La La Land," Gosling similarly pulled out all the stops to portray jazz pianist Sebastian Wilder. Not only did he have to learn extensive choreography and put his singing skills to the test, but he also took on a huge challenge by adopting an impressive new skill.

Fans may not know that Ryan Gosling actually played the piano sequences as seen in "La La Land" — with no hand doubles or camera tricks involved. According to The Chicago Sun-Times, though he knew how to play the instrument a little by ear, Gosling took up piano lessons so he could master the skill — spending three hours a day in practice for three solid months. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, director Damien Chazelle said they actually planned to use a hand double for certain scenes in the movie but did not need to as Gosling "learned how to play it all himself," surprisingly. "There's no piano double in the movie, and even close-up of hands, it's all Ryan," Chazelle later told the American Film Institute.

In a special feature for "La La Land," his piano teacher, Liz Kinnon, said it's a huge challenge for someone who's never had any proper training like Gosling to learn how to play the piano — let alone jazz piano — in just a short span of time. "Jazz is its own animal, and there are very specific things that happen in jazz that maybe don't happen in other styles of music," she explained. However, this didn't deter the actor from wanting to learn the ropes and deliver an exceptional performance as Sebastian. "He wanted to actually be able to play everything," said Kinnon. "So, he learned everything by rote ... He was very, very committed."

In addition to playing jazz piano, both Ryan Gosling and his co-star Emma Stone also had to learn extensive choreography for their roles in "La La Land." Damien Chazelle said the two went through rigorous dance rehearsals with Emmy-nominated choreographer Mandy Moore (nope, not that one) to learn tap, ballroom, and jazz dance. "It was a lot of hard work, and they had to do a lot of rehearsal and training," Chazelle said, per Yahoo.

Per People, Moore would have the two do Pilates, jumping jacks, stretches, and various dance exercises in different genres (including tap and jazz) for four months before filming. "I knew they had to get to a place physically where they could do these nice long takes, time after time, and not only get one take and they would be so tired that they couldn't dance," said Moore. She added that she would start by giving them exercises to work on their coordination and agility, as well as their ability to synchronize movements to the music. "It's like an athlete," the choreographer noted. "You don't start, from day one, with a six-hour rehearsal. You train up to that point." 

All in all, it was well worth it — both Gosling and Stone garnered critical and commercial praise for their roles in "La La Land," including an Oscar for best actress for Stone and the best actor trophy for Gosling at the Golden Globes, per IMDb.