Way Before Barbie, This Gritty Indie with 91% RT Turned Ryan Gosling Into an A-List Star (Does It Hold Up?)
Way before Barbie, a gritty indie movie with a 91% Rotten Tomatoes score helped make Ryan Gosling an A-list star. Known for movies such as Drive, The Notebook and Blade Runner 2049, Ryan Gosling is one of Hollywood’s top leading men. Yet one movie, at the dawn of his career, gave him a serious boost.
Released in 2006, Half Nelson, directed by Ryan Fleck and written by Fleck and Anna Boden, saw Gosling play Dan Dunne, an inner city school teacher addicted to drugs.
Half Nelson – Poster
Dunne strikes up a friendship with one of his students, Drey, played by Shareeka Epps, one that ultimately brings him into conflict with her brother Frank, played by Anthony Mackie.
Audiences Already Knew Ryan Gosling When Half-Nelson Arrived in Theaters
Prior to Movies, Gosling Worked In Television
When Half Nelson premiered to great acclaim at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, Ryan Gosling was no stranger to moviegoers. Two years prior, he attracted mainstream attention with his role opposite Rachel McAdams in The Notebook. Yet Gosling’s career went back even further, to the early 1990s, when he starred in The New Mickey Mouse Club.
After a string of television shows, including the seminal Nickelodeon horror show Are You Afraid of the Dark? Gosling made his big-screen debut in Remember the Titans, released in 2000. The following year, Gosling portrayed a white supremacist in The Believer, a role foreshadowing the intensity he would bring to Half-Nelson.
Half Nelson Is a Showcase for Ryan Gosling’s Acting Chops
Half Nelson Helped Establish Ryan Gosling as a Serious Actor
Dan (Ryan Gosling) stands in front of a chalkboard in Half Nelson.
After its Sundance premiere, Half Nelson opened in theaters that Fall. Initially released to only a handful of theaters, the film would eventually expand, taking back its budget several times over. The movie’s three main actors: Gosling, Epps and Mackie, were singled out for praise. Both Epps and Gosling were nominated for various awards based on the strength of their performances.
Half Nelson was a critical point for all its main stars, but for Gosling in particular. Audiences already knew him from The Notebook, a romantic drama. While a hit at the box office, the movie did not fare as well with critics. Gosling could have ended up being typecast after The Notebook’s release.
Half Nelson was a critical point for all its main stars, but for Gosling in particular.
However, Half Nelson truly marked the beginning of Gosling’s ascent to the A-list. For his performance as Dan Dunne, Gosling was nominated for both an Independent Spirit Award and an Academy Award, the former of which he won. This was on top of the many other “year-end” honors the movie received.
Ryan Gosling’s Career Took Off After Half Nelson
Gosling Has Starred in Many Movies Across Many Genres
After Half Nelson, Gosling would star in movies across a wide variety of genres. In 2007, he would play in another indie sensation: Lars and the Real Girl. More mainstream success came Gosling’s way with the release of Drive in 2011. Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, the film’s ultra-cool aesthetic endeared Gosling to film fans even more.
From there the hits, both mainstream and cult, flowed. Gosling returned to the romantic genre with Crazy, Stupid, Love and dabbled in political thrillers with The Ides of March. Other credits during the 2010s include The Big Short and 2016’s The Nice Guys. He would return to the awards circuit with 2017’s La La Land.
Big Things, Including Star Wars, Await Ryan Gosling
Half Nelson Is the Rock Upon Which Ryan Gosling’s Career Is Built
Ryan Gosling with Flynn Gray in front of an ocean in a behind the scenes image from Star Wars Starfighter
Ryan Gosling continues to appear in major movie roles, and has established himself as a thoughtful leading man. In roles such as Ken in 2023’s Barbie, Gosling subverted masculine stereotypes, all while playing maybe the most famous “himbo” in popular culture. 2027 will see Gosling join the Star Wars universe in the movie Starfighter.
And none of his success in movies like Barbie would have been possible without Half Nelson. Prior to its release, Ryan Gosling was not unknown, but did not have the resume just yet to break through to the major leagues. His gritty, realistic performance in Half Nelson captured the hearts and minds of movie fans and critics, and made him an A-lister.
