Ryan Gosling’s Kids Think He’s an Actual Astronaut

Ryan Gosling is playing Neil Armstrong in the new biopic First Man, a film that chronicles the immense trials and tribulations that occurred in the years leading up to the (ultimately successful) Apollo 11 mission to the moon. Gosling, as any reasonable person might deduce, spends a solid chunk of the film donning spacesuits and other space-appropriate garb that were popularized in the 1960s, so much so that his two young daughters now genuinely believe he’s a bona fide astronaut.

“They came to set,” Gosling explained with a laugh on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. “They came on this day where I was shooting a launch scene, so I was in the spacesuit and pretending to launch. I think they think I’m an astronaut now. My oldest said the other day — she pointed to the moon — she was like, ‘That’s where you work, right?’”

Funny enough, Gosling’s wife, Eva Mendes, also mentioned her daughters’ adorable First Man confusion last month: “They loved it! And they now think Poppy’s an astronaut. We haven’t corrected them yet.”

Gosling’s Kimmel appearance went by without mentioning the current “controversy” (note the quotations) surrounding First Man, which regards the film’s omission of Armstrong planting an American flag on the moon during Apollo 11’s mission. Following some vocal conservatives fanning the flames on social media, Gosling responded by explaining the rationale behind the creative decision. “I don’t think that Neil viewed himself as an American hero. From my interviews with his family and people that knew him, it was quite the opposite,” he explained. “And we wanted the film to reflect Neil. I’m Canadian, so might have cognitive bias.”

Now, we just have one question for Gosling’s daughters: Did they think he was a jazz musician during the filming of La La Land, too?

First Man premieres in theaters next week.

Related: How Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone Reacted to That Moonlight-La La Land Mix-Up