RYAN GOSLING is already timeless. He can go away for a while, do some art-movie adventuring and some enthusiastic kid-having with Eva Mendes, then waltz right back into his gig as Hollywood’s leading leading man. He’ll probably do it all again in five years—waltz off, waltz back, slay, repeat. But he was at the Oscars last year, he’ll be back this year, and next year he’s inheriting Blade Runner from Harrison Ford. Right here, right now—this is Ryan Gosling’s next peak. GQ’s Chris Heath travels to BUDAPEST to witness it up close.
DEEP BENEATH the old castle fortifications in Budapest, on a hill just west of the Danube, is a subterranean labyrinth that winds for several miles. At the very end of one twisting tunnel, a long walk from the surface, there is a chamber, and in its center, barely visible through the smoke that fills the room, is a small crouching statue of a grotesque, winged demon perched above a flat rectangular tombstone. The tomb’s purported occupant is identified by a single chiseled word: DRACULA.
NOTES ON THE EARLY LIFE OF RYAN GOSLING #1
HE HATED BEING A KID. He just didn’t like the way it felt, and he wanted it to be over.
“I just felt this sense of: I have a limited amount of time and, you know, I’ve got to get started. I also didn’t like the arbitrariness of control that people seemed to have over me.”
I think most kids don’t know to question that. They just accept it.
This story is from the January 2017 edition of GQ.
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This story is from the January 2017 edition of GQ.
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