In “Blue Valentine” Ryan Gosling plays Dean, a husband fighting against the receding tide of his marriage to Cindy (Michelle Williams). Directed by Derek Cianfrance, the film is one of the more intimate portrayals of love and marriage to reach the screen in a long time. “Blue Valentine” took 12 years to get made, and required a total commitment by the actors who worked in the 
closest of quarters. Having received an NC-17 rating from the MPAA, Gosling addresses the fate of the film and the process of making it with Wrap editor Sharon Waxman.
You look suspiciously like Derek (the director) in the second half of the movie? What’s that about?
I just thought Derek looked cool; I liked the way that he is with his kids. I also had been working with him for four years. Michelle had been working with him for six. I started to associate all these dialogoues that we were engaging in with him.
After sticking with a project for that long, did you believe it would ever happen?
I didn’t know. The thing about Derek that’s special is he has patience. He waited 12 years to wait for the right people and the right circumstances -- to film this question that he wanted to ask.
What’s the question?
What happens to love? Where does it go? He treats it like a murder-mystery. This couple’s beautiful love has been shot down in cold blood, and you spend the rest of the film trying to trace down the killer: is it him, her, their jobs, the parents, money, time, erosion? Whodunnit?
Your performance in this film is absolutely heart-breaking. Have you had that experience yourself?
I’ve seen it happen over and over and over again. That’s what I love about the film. It doesn’t pretend to know everything. I didn’t realize that most movies are trying to do, until I read this. In a time where culturally it’s a prison riot of opinion – everyone, no matter how informed they are, feels entitled to give an option. Without any accountability for what they’re saying. Blogs, television culture. No one is ever accountable for what they’ve said. You’re inundated with opinions. So here’s a filmmaker who’s asking you questions.
Was that the process? Derek has said that he considers you and Michelle co-writers of the film.
It was always questions – who is Dean? Where does he come from? What does he look like. He was telling us what to think about.
So Dean came from you?
It comes from everything that’s around you. People you grew up with. The character would change a lot; I’d have to build him up. Then the film wouldn’t go, and I’d tear him down for parts. And build him back up.
We all know this guy. He’s a guy everybody likes, but nobody respects.
