The actor, 45, spoke with PEOPLE about his new film Project Hail Mary, which follows a science teacher who is sent to space to save humankind. Deep in space, Gosling’s character realizes he’s not alone in his quest, and ends up meeting an alien named Rocky, with whom he forms an unlikely connection.<\/p>\n
Gosling says filming those scenes could be tough, especially since sometimes his co-star was not actually there. Luckily, his two daughters \u2014 Esmeralda Amada, 11, and Amada Lee, 9 \u2014 were happy to lend a hand.<\/p>\n
“Sometimes when I was working and I needed to sort of switch things up or whatever, my kids would come in and I had an earpiece in my ear and they would talk for Rocky, so I could talk to them as Rocky,” Gosling tells PEOPLE.<\/p>\n
Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter<\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer\u200b\u200b, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.<\/p>\n Ryan Gosling on Feb. 12 “And there’s some moments in the movie where I’m laughing or I’m just so charmed by him, which is like, it’s actually my kids talking to me and helping me out,” he continues. In the actual movie, however, Rocky is voiced by James Ortiz.<\/p>\n “They’ve seen many cuts of this film,” says Gosling of his kids. “They’ve given me many notes.”<\/p>\n A memorable line from pre-production? “When I was trying on stuff for the character and my daughter came by, and she was like, ‘You look smart in glasses,'” he recalls. “And I was like, ‘I need to look smart in this, so I will thank you for that.'”<\/p>\n In February, Gosling told Access Hollywood<\/a> that his daughters, whom he shares with longtime partner Eva Mendes<\/a>, were one of the reasons he decided to take on this film<\/a>.<\/p>\n “My kids have seen multiple cuts,” Gosling told the outlet. “They give me multiple notes. They’re basically the only critics I care about, and they are very critical and very honest.”<\/p>\n “I made this for them essentially,” he continued. “As a family, I’d like a movie like this that I’d like to see. I just feel really honored that I got to make one.”<\/p>\n Ryan Gosling in Project Hail Mary This isn’t the first time Gosling has shared that his kids have been involved in one of his movies. When the actor starred as Ken in 2023’s Barbie, he shared that his daughters weren’t sure why he’d want<\/a> to play the popular doll’s counterpart.<\/p>\n “My kids were my introduction to [Barbie],” he told PEOPLE. “I think they’re confused as to why I would want to play Ken. They have no use for Ken.”<\/p>\n He went on to share that his daughters also helped him prepare for a scene that required an extra amount of work. “My kids were around for the months at home, as I was prepping for it,” he told PEOPLE. “So they, inadvertently, were prepping for it too.”<\/p>\n “And they came to set that day and were a huge sense of support and doing it with me off-camera,” Gosling said.<\/p>\n Project Hail Mary opens in theaters on March 20.<\/p>\n![\"Ryan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/21ed40be89ecf1d2954d65ffc864495d.jpeg\"\/)
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Credit: JC Olivera\/Getty<\/p>\n![\"Ryan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/61a5ecd029e14be5d721e42ac5c22f3f.jpeg\"\/)
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Credit: Amazon MGM Studios<\/p>\n