Gosling falls in love with a doll -- a real doll

Ryan Gosling, who won acclaim for his breakthrough performance as a drug-addicted teacher in 2006's "Half Nelson," is now taking on a very different kind of role -- as a guy who embarks on an emotional love affair with a life-size doll named Bianca.

"Lars and the Real Girl" opens locally Friday. In an interview, Gosling talked about his work -- and his unusual co-star.

Q. This is a truly unusual love story and a serious departure from your previous film "Half Nelson," a gritty drama for which you earned a best actor Oscar nomination. What did you first think when you were sent Nancy Oliver's script for "Lars and the Real Girl"?

A. I thought the concept was funny, but I didn't think it could hold up for a whole movie. Then I read it, and I thought, "Wow." I'd been waiting to read a script like that my whole life. I didn't want it to end. It was completely unique. I think it's a movie for people who are bored with movies. I read it on a Saturday and was committed on Monday. Everyone I've talked to says it's the best script they've ever read.

Q. And how long after that did you first meet Bianca?

A. I first met Bianca at the read-through. I developed a legitimate bond with her, and in a way I became dependent on her. She relaxed me -- she was a support system. It became easier to understand the bond. People hear the idea for this film, and they think, "Oh, how kitschy or funny," but there's a whole culture of guys out there who have these dolls, and they have very intimate relationships with them. Part of it is sexual, but a lot of it is emotional. One guy goes hang gliding, and he takes his doll to watch, so that he has someone to support him in the things that he likes to do. Some guys cook with them and have dinners; they're part of the fabric of their life. So, all of this is possible. … I think it's a romantic idea the way that Nancy approached the script, that love's not a transaction. It's something you have to give, and you give it freely to whoever and whatever you want.

Q. You're essentially carrying the story on your own in so many scenes, but it sounds as though you approached working opposite Bianca as though she were just another actor.

A. Everybody was respectful of the idea, the spirit of the film. We tried to honor how Lars felt about Bianca, tried to achieve that level of intimacy. The focus puller would apologize if we got too close to her eye when he was taking the focus and not realize he'd done it. Everybody developed their own private relationship with her. It was fascinating to watch her effect. The fact that she looks so real is a part of what makes her so magnetic.

Q. You're about to begin shooting Paramount's planned 2008 release "The Lovely Bones" with director Peter Jackson. Is it difficult for you to switch gears after you complete a project, making the transition from one character to the next?

A. I hear actors talking about how they become characters. That's never happened to me -- I'm not that good. They're me; I'm them. There are differences in the sense that I amp up parts of myself that are like them, and I turn down the parts that aren't, but other than that, I am all of those people. I think that must be an amazing experience, to turn into somebody else and try to turn back into yourself.