Ryan Gosling has opened up about his most unusual co-star yet.
In an interview with People Magazine, the Project Hail Mary star revealed that Rocky, a five-limbed, spider-like alien, was far from easy to work with.
He said, “I don’t like to call him a puppet, but they’re calling him a puppet.”
“Well, he’s a diva, let’s be honest. Very high-maintenance. Has his own glam squad,” Ryan characterize Rocky.
Unlike many modern films, Rocky wasn’t just a CGI creation. Instead, the character was brought to life through a complex combination of puppetry and animatronics, operated by team of five puppeteers dressed in black. Voice actor James Ortiz eventually became the definitive voice of the alien, after initially stepping in to help Ryan Gosling rehearse scenes.
The Barbie actor stated, “James Ortiz was meant to just be the puppeteer and we were going to figure out Rocky’s voice later. But James started doing the lines for me so that I had someone to read lines with, so I wasn’t just imagining this dialogue.”
The puppeteer “understood Rocky so deeply that it got to a point where he knew what Rocky would say, what he wouldn’t say, what he would do.”
“James was Rocky and James is Rocky now and you can’t imagine it any other way,” Ryan added.
Furthermore, adding a personal touch to the production, Ryan Gosling also revealed that his daughters helped voice Rocky during filming, feeding him lines through an earpiece.
