Hollywood heartthrob Ryan Gosling spent time last year in Detroit directing his first feature as a director. Originally called "How to Catch a Monster," the film is now called "Lost River," and is set for the Un Certain Regard sidebar at the Cannes film festival next month.
Two images from the film have been released. One, which was not described, is at left. The other one is at the top of this story. Both reportedly show Christina Hendricks, of "Mad Men," who stars in "Lost River."
According to Slash Films, Un Certain Regard (A Certain Look) is the category to showcase films that are either the product of newcomers to Cannes, or that are a little more unusual than the typical competition titles.
This film features Hendricks as Billy, “a single mother of two who is swept into a macabre and dark fantasy underworld while her teenage son discovers a secret road leading to an underwater town.”
Iain De Caestecker, who also appears in the film, told the online journal Empire:
"Ryan works in a very free way, he's constantly in an artistic frame of mind."
As for the film itself, "all I can really say is that it centres around a family. There's my character, Bones, his mother and his younger brother. There's also a girl next door played by Saoirse Ronan, called Rat. It's about this family living in a town called Lost River, which is perhaps a place that was once full of family and happiness and love, and is now this town that's slowly descending into a place without any hope. This family is holding onto the foundations of their house and everything they think they need to hold onto."
In Detroit, Gosling, shown at left in ""The Place Beyond the Pines." and crew were spotted filming at E. Jefferson and Chalmers, near Masonic Temple and at a Midtown Montessori school.
Gosling got to know Detroit during filming in the city in 2011 in “The Ides of March.”
David Lancaster, co-president of Bold Films, which is producing and financing the movie, told the Free Press last year that Gosling believes Detroit “is an extraordinary place that is on the cusp of something very interesting.”
The Los Angeles Times last week delved into details surrounding Gosling's directorial debut. Click here to read it.
