The Place Beyond the Pines
Director Derek Cianfrance takes us behind the scenes of his epic family drama. Click here to read the full story.
1
Ryan Gosling, on day one of the shoot. In addition to bleaching his hair and covering himself in tattoos, Ryan (who plays a motorcycle stunt driver) put on a good 40 pounds of muscle for the role. In this scene we’re about to shoot, he is supposed to be eating a burger. We did eight takes, which meant Ryan had to eat eight burgers.
2
Eva Mendes is a waitress in the film, and she worked a number of shifts at a diner outside Albany to prep for the role. A common complaint from her customers: not enough salt on their fries.
3
Bradley Cooper, who plays a cop, got a haircut for the partit makes me think of former Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino, circa 1998. Only fewer curls.
4
Dane DeHaan, who plays Ryan’s son, learned to do wheelies on a motorcycle for the film. One day he crashed and sliced open his chin. He called me, very excited, to tell me that his character, Jason, would have a scar.
5
Me, with Bradley.
6
Ray Liotta (a corrupt cop) really gets under the skin of Rose Byrne (Bradley’s wife) in the scene below. He has an amazing ability to unsettle other actors. Rose definitely went toe to toe with him here.
7
When I met my cowriter, Ben Coccio, in 2007, I asked him what his favorite movie was. “Goodfellas,” he said. “Me, too,” I told him. We decided we should make a movie together, and we agreed that Ray Liotta (in the brown bomber) had to be in it.
