Ryan Gosling has exited a project by Oscar-winning directing duo Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.
Gosling’s departure is down to a scheduling conflict, Deadline has confirmed.
The La La Land star, 45, had been due to appear in the secret project, which was originally dated for 12 June 2027 before the release date was shifted to 19 November 2027.
Kwan and Scheinert – the directing duo known as the Daniels – had planned to begin shooting the film in Los Angeles later this summer.
Gosling’s schedule, however, was unable to accommodate the change in timeline.
While an exact reason was not given, the actor is coming off a mammoth global press tour for his recently released sci-fi epic Project Hail Mary.
An adaptation of Andy Weir’s 2021 novel about a man who wakes up on a spaceship, light-years from home, with no memory of who he is or why he’s there, the film soared at the box office, grossing $300.8m worldwide on its $200m budget.
It surpassed Avatar: Fire and Ash to become the highest-grossing Hollywood film of the year. James Cameron’s movie had previously dominated the box office for the first three months of the year.
In a four-star review of the film, The Independent’s film critic Clarisse Loughrey called Project Hail Mary as “effervescently likeable as it can get”.
News of Gosling’s exit will come as a blow to fans of the Daniels, who won seven awards including Best Picture at the 2023 Oscars, for their sci-fi action adventure film Everything Everywhere All At Once.
Deadline reports that Universal and the Daniels are still on schedule to make their targeted dates despite Gosling’s exit, with plenty of suitors expected to chase the role that he has left empty.
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Gosling is still set to star in one major movie next year, with Star Wars: Starfighter slated for a May release.
The forthcoming movie, directed by Deadpool & Wolverine filmmaker Shawn Levy, will be separate from the nine-film Skywalker franchise.
Announcing the news in April last year, Gosling told fans at a Star Wars celebration event in Tokyo: “Being here and seeing all of you [makes it] more inspiring to do it … It’s such a great reminder of how much movies can mean to us, specifically how much these movies mean to us … All we can hope for is: ‘May the fans be with us.’”