Ryan Gosling has built a career on disappearing into roles, but for his next big-screen turn he leaned on some very familiar collaborators: his two daughters.
In the upcoming sci-fi film Project Hail Mary, the La La Land actor stars alongside an alien companion named Rocky, voiced by James Ortiz.
To make his character’s back-and-forth with Rocky feel more spontaneous, Gosling revealed that Esmeralda Amada, 11, and Amada Lee, 9 stepped in to read Rocky’s lines during certain takes—bringing a more natural (and occasionally very funny) rhythm to the exchanges.
“Sometimes when I was working and I needed to sort of switch things up or whatever, my kids would come in and I had an earpiece in my ear and they would talk for Rocky, so I could talk to them as Rocky,” Gosling told PEOPLE.
Ortiz is still the voice audiences will hear in the finished movie, but Gosling said some of his on-camera reactions came directly from hearing his kids deliver Rocky’s dialogue in real time—resulting in moments that play as especially warm and genuine.
“There’s some moments in the movie where I’m laughing or I’m just so charmed by him, which is like, it’s actually my kids talking to me and helping me out,” the Nice Guys star explained.
The daughters’ input didn’t stop once recording wrapped, either. Gosling also shared that they watched multiple versions of the film and offered feedback as it evolved through different edits.
“They’ve seen many cuts of this film,” the Drive actor said. “They’ve given me many notes.”
Some of those notes even touched on how his character should look on screen, helping refine details that shaped his portrayal.
In Project Hail Mary, Gosling plays a science teacher sent into space on a mission to help save Earth—and, according to his daughters, one simple choice made him instantly more convincing in the role.
“When I was trying on stuff for the character and my daughter came by, and she was like, ‘You look smart in glasses,'” Gosling remembered. “And I was like, ‘I need to look smart in this, so I will thank you for that.'”
Adapted from Andy Weir’s novel (from the author behind The Martian), the film also features a cast including Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall), Lionel Boyce (The Bear), Ken Leung (Industry), and Milana Vayntrub (This Is Us).
Phil Lord and Christopher Miller direct, reuniting the filmmaking duo known for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and 21 Jump Street. Project Hail Mary is scheduled to arrive in theaters on March 20.