When most Hollywood stars make their directorial debut, they opt for something cheap and independent, perhaps a story of a love not meant to be, or the struggle experienced by one character. Even a simple crime drama. But not Ryan Gosling, the actor whose first venture into music was the gothic and monster-minded duo Dead Man’s Bones. A noir fairy tale mystery seems like the perfect place to start.
Casting for Gosling’s How to Catch a Monster has been a big story this week, and now we've learned that actress Saoirse Ronan has just signed on. Her fame has without question risen in the last few years since her leading role as young Susie Salmon in Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones. She showed off her crime and action chops in Violet and Daisy and Hanna, and will soon be seen alongside Gemma Arterton in Neil Jordan’s vampire thriller Byzantium.
If her current successes weren’t enough, her future is filled with films like the Stephenie Meyer adaptation The Host, Wes Anderson’s next film The Grand Budapest Hotel, and she’s even supposed to play Mary Queen of Scots. By the time the film hits theaters, she will be packing just as much star power as fellow co-stars Christina Hendricks, Eva Mendes, Matt Smith, and Ben Mendelsohn.
How to Catch a Monster spins a suspenseful fantasy tale of a single mother (Hendricks) joining her son on a mystery journey to an underwater town while the world above is vanishing into darkness. At this point, the movie could probably cast Tom Arnold and I’d still be invested in it.
