Actor Ryan Gosling poses during a photo call for Drive in Cannes, France, Friday, May 20, 2011.Jonathan Short/The Associated Press
Did you eat cereal this morning for breakfast? Well, we know someone who didn't: Ryan Gosling.
Or at least, he doesn't in a series of cleverly edited movie clips titled Ryan Gosling Won't Eat His Cereal.
Watch them and you'll agree: They're grrrreat!
In each of the Vine posts, a mysterious spoon floats awkwardly into the frame toward Gosling's mouth. Like a baby refusing to eat his puréed peas, Gosling appears to be swatting it away or flaring his nostrils in fear.
The series can be credited to Ryan McHenry, who works at a film production company in Glasgow. Thus far, he has mined Crazy Stupid Love, The Ides of March, Drive and Lars and the Real Girl as well as a media interview for his source material.
Hovering somewhere between inane and awesome, the clips have been widely praised – with some going so far as to declare that McHenry has "won the Internet."
The Canadian-born actor has been the subject of parody Tumblr pages and Internet memes in the past; witness Feminist Ryan Gosling and Ryan Gosling vs. Puppy.
But McHenry has cleverly raised the Gosling trope stakes by using Vine, a mobile application owned by Twitter that allows users to assemble six-second video clips.
On Tuesday, McHenry tweeted he arrived at such an oddball idea while watching Drive. He started posting them in April and word of mouth has been spreading ever since. This week, they seemed to have reached critical mass, accumulating more than 21,000 Facebook shares.
But certainly, the series raises the question: Why won't Gosling eat his cereal? Maybe he prefers oatmeal. Perhaps he's lactose intolerant. Or maybe he would rather not be spoon fed.
If his Twitter feed is any indication, McHenry appears to be savouring the exposure. In addition to retweeting all the media coverage, he thanked his new fans by posting a picture Friday morning of cereal bowl in front of the Drive movie poster.
At this point, McHenry is probably feeling pressure to deliver something just as good, if not better. This will be tough. It's not as if he can just go ahead and show Julianne Moore crying over spilled milk. Oh wait …
Amy Verner