When they stepped out together at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, there was a certain bromantic edge on display between Ryan Gosling and Nicolas Winding Refn. Their film, "Drive," in which Gosling stars as a car stuntman by day and getaway driver for the mob by night, won Refn Best Director honors at the prestigious film fest -- and a few smooches from his leading man.
Perhaps, then, it's quite appropriate that Refn describes the beginning of their relationship as a blind date.
Speaking to Empire Magazine, Refn talked about the first time they met, when Gosling sought him out to propose adapting the James Sallis novel for the big screen. Unfortunately, some anti-flu medicine left him in less than the perfect state of mind for the occasion.
"He’d seen all my films and knew a lot about them, and he wanted to do a movie called 'Drive' based on this very good book," Refn remembered. "It was like a blind date, and I was just wanting to say 'When can we leave?'"
As luck would have it, that drive home is what would seal the deal for their film and relationship -- thanks to a song on the radio.
"I was singing, 'I can’t fight this feeling any more!', banging my fists against my legs to the drum solo," he said. "I was having all this emotional catharsis, and I screamed in Ryan’s face, 'I GOT IT, I KNOW WHAT DRIVE IS! He drives around in cars at night and his emotional relief is pop music.' So that’s why I made the movie.”
This isn't the first time Refn has used the language of dating to describe their relationship.
"It was a famous blind date," Refn told HuffPost blogger Karin Badt back in May. "We had a mental f*ck in the car, a creative marriage. I was the mother and he was the father, bringing this child to life."
Itn fact, their film baby won't be an only child; Gosling and Refn are set to re-team twice more, for a remake of "Logan's Run," and Bangkok-set drama, "Only God Forgives."
For more from Refn, click over to Empire. For photos from the film, click here.
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