Ryan Gosling 'Felt Ready To Play A Psycho' In 'Drive'

For those who only know Ryan Gosling from his warm fuzzy work in feel-good films like "The Notebook" and the more recent romantic comedy "Crazy, Stupid, Love," or for his heroics in breaking up street fights in New York City, watching the easy-on-the-eyes actor play a psycho in his new movie "Drive" may be a shock to your system. Directed by Nicholas Refn, the action thriller features Gosling as an intense, introverted driver-for-hire. His unnamed character is an automobile stuntman for Hollywood pictures by day and a getaway man for armed crooks by night. All is going relatively well until Gosling's driver becomes involved with his neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan) and offers to help her estranged ex-convict husband, who wants to rid himself of unpaid debts to a group of dangerous criminals. Naturally, things get heated and really violent. When MTV News caught up with Gosling recently, we asked why he wanted to play a psycho — his word, not ours. "I don't know, I just felt ready to play a psycho," he said with a smile. "What I was really focused on was making a violent John Hughes movie. I love John Hughes movies," he explained, adding that he would have appreciated them even more had the director infused them with some life-or-death intensity. "I love 'Pretty in Pink,' but I always wished there was some blood with the cotton candy," he said. "A little violence, a little head-smashing thrown in there for good measure. And so when I met Nicholas, he had had the same fantasy, too, so we just tried to go down that road." Check out everything we've got on "Drive." For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com. Ryan Gosling Photo: MTV News