Ryan Gosling face appears to have been battered repeatedly in the first promotional poster for Nicolas Winding Refn’s Only God Forgives.
Gosling’s impeccable facial features, which have won him many admirers across the globe, are none apparent in the poster. His left eye is so swollen that it almost goes over his entire eyeball, blood is smeared across most of his face and his nose also appears to have been cut.
Only God Forgives promises to be an extremely brutal, and violent, reunion for the Drive director and it’s star. In the movie, Gosling is set to play Julian, an Englishman in Bangkok who runs a Thai boxing club that acts as a front for his mafia work. After his brother is murdered, Julian seeks revenge through the dangerous world of Thai boxing. Kristen Scott Thomas is already signed on to star as his mother.
Gosling’s looks have been the main selling point for a number of his recent feature films, such as 2011’s Crazy, Stupid Love and the upcoming Gangster Squad , so it is a bold marketing move to bludgeon his face beyond recognition.
Gosling is now one of Hollywood’s most admired actors in Hollywood, after staring in the likes of The Ides of March, Drive, and Blue Valentine over the space of 24 months.
Refn and Gosling’s work on Drive was particularly admired, as it ended up on many critics’ top ten movies of 2011 lists and also received a spate of award nominations. Only God Forgives is expected to be in cinemas by March 2013
