Rumor: Ryan Gosling, Zac Efron up for Episode VII?

Hey, girl.

Is it April Fools already? Latino Review’s Kellvin Chavez is reporting that Ryan Gosling and Zac Efron are up for roles in Episode VII – and that Leonardo DiCaprio has already passed.

Chavez doesn’t know what role Efron could be up for, but apparently Gosling auditioned for the role of Luke’s son.

Gosling is among the hottest actors in Hollywood right now, and while I wouldn’t count on him – yes, he’s probably big enough these days to turn down Star Wars if the mood strikes – I also don’t entirely hate the idea. After all, how many people do you hear referencing his time as a Mouseketeer these days, as opposed to his meme? He’d be a pretty big get for any franchise.

Efron, on the other hand, has the opposite problem – he’s hard-wired to his Disney tweener past, namely as one of the stars of the High School Musical ‘franchise.’ Will the world ever be able to take this guy seriously? (On the other hand, he didn’t suck in Hairspray.) He was one of the Disney folks you saw photoshopped into every other Star Wars image a few months past. It was eye-rolling then – but expect to see those images a lot more as this rumor disperses out through the internet. With additional Gosling. Whoo.

I, as always, remain skeptical.

21 Replies to “Rumor: Ryan Gosling, Zac Efron up for Episode VII?”

  1. omg, the amount of Ryan Gosling Star Wars pr0n we will be treated to if this turns out to be true is…. large. Chalk me up as pro-Ryan Gosling.

  2. I just remembered this student of mine talking my ear off about Gosling and how he was cast in the Notebook because he wasn’t traditionally good looking. The same verbiage used in the casting call… Either way, I find it funny.

    I’m actually pro-Gosling for a known actor. Efron I have never seen in anything but his look is annoying.

  3. Gosling I might be okay with, so long as he doesn’t try to use his oh-so-phony “I’m-From-Canada-But-I’ll-Pretend-I’m-From-Brooklyn” accent.

    (insert grumbling about wanting a “Female Skywalker” child here)

  4. Emily: There are still the two teenage girls from the casting call! Maybe one of them is a second Skywalker.

    Or, hell, maybe they’re auditioning with fake scripts. Stranger things have happened.

  5. From the article “About a two months ago my source informed me that they were going to start filming in Pinewood, but I really never paid any mind to it and now it ends up being true that they will indeed film there.”

    So he just realized the Pinewood information is true, yet he got all the rest of his facts straight?

  6. Dunc: Both good points! I shall come back down to earth and stop breathing into this paper bag.

    Tricia: That sounds…a bit wonky. But wasn’t this guy one of the first ones who got the JJ rumor (or one maybe the Arndt rumor?) correct?

  7. I get worried when I see big-name actors for Star Wars, especially younger ones. I get worried that they won’t commit 100% to the movie, especially if they’re worried about getting typecast.

    I’ve heard on good authority that Natalie Portman was very worried about this and was pretty unenthusiastic about the prequels. Great actress, nice person, but in my opinion not the best fit for Amidala.

    I tend to prefer younger, undiscovered actors who aren’t going to come into the role thinking they’re too big for Star Wars.

  8. Gosling is a good actor. Efron, on the other hand… But, I agree with Dom; it would be nice to see some new faces, too.

  9. Leo for Star Wars? I guess now we’re gonna rumor like it’s 1999.

    Also, Jason, if you’ve never seen Efron in anything, then you definitely need to check out Firefly.

  10. Well, it all depends.

    If Disney don’t want to treat the sequel trilogy seriously, then by all means – cast Tween Heart Throb Zac Efron in Star Wars and piss off the fan base.

    If their intention is to take this whole thing seriously, then cast real actors and not people we’ve seen before.

    Casting an actor like Efron isn’t a very ‘Star Wars’ type move – it’s the complete opposite of sanity.

  11. What still baffles me this morning is the thought that Disney allegedly believes in the need to cast “name” actors. Star Wars will sell itself, why would that be in question? Let Hamill, Fisher, Ford, and “Star Wars” be the names. Let some unknowns have a chance to become to the stars.

  12. I suspect it will end up a mix of big names and unknowns.

    Here’s hoping the unknowns are the ones who become the leads.

    But Ryna Gosling? We could do worse.

    Efron is a HUGE Star Wars nerd, if I’m remembering my Prequel coverage correctly. I could see him at least trying to float the rumor to see the reaction.

  13. Ozzel , I own Firefly on Blu-ray. I dig it. I didn’t realize that was him. But it doesn’t really tell me anything, especially since it was over ten years ago.

    His style makes him hard to feel out. It probably isn’t his fault. But I have a hard time seeing him a Star Wars film when he has a spray on tan and his hair pasted to his forehead.

  14. For what its worth, Efron did a pretty decent job in the indie “The Paperboy”. He might work.

Comments are closed.

%d bloggers like this: