Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams are rumoured to be romancing for real after the critics saw Blue Valentine. Steve Pratt reports.

CANADIAN actor Ryan Gosling and co-star Michelle Williams moved in with each other just like the couple in the film they were making.

Blue Valentine follows Dean and Cindy as their marriage breaks down, shifting from flashbacks of the start of their romance to present day. While billed as a romance, Gosling says in Canada they’ve labelled it an “anti-love story”.

But the actor – both he and Williams have received Golden Globe nominations for their performances – thinks it’s very romantic.

“The characters in this film couldn’t embrace each other’s faults because they were trying to live up to some idea of perfection. I think acknowledging that is romantic,” he says.

Both stars agreed to do the film years before it was made – Williams for seven and Gosling for five – because it took a long time to get the finances together.

But they didn’t know each other before filming began.

“The years we were prepping our characters, Michelle and I never talked and never met,” he recalls. “The first time was when our characters met, when Dean comes over to dinner at Cindy’s parents’ home. So what’s happening for the first time for the audience is the first time for us as well.”

To develop their on-screen relationship, the duo lived together for a month: “Michelle went home at night because she’s a mum, but we had fake Christmases and birthdays and made birthday cakes,” says Gosling. “We had a budget, did groceries, fought, cleaned and cooked, and tried to build as many memories as we could in our house. So when we were losing our love, we knew what we were losing.”

They also competed against each other, as director Derek Cianfrance wanted the couple to put on weight for the present day scenes. “Michelle and I had eating contests, and Michelle won,” he reveals. “We didn’t want it to be too extreme. We wanted to show the effects of time, to show our characters were like flags – torn at the edges, beaten down and faded by the sun.”

The couple’s on-screen chemistry is so believable that rumours of a romance have been circulating since they started promoting the film, but they’ve kept people guessing about their real state of affairs. But Gosling talks about his costar with great affection.

“I feel how Scottie Pippen might have felt in the Chicago Bulls heyday, when he would give the ball to Michael Jordan who would soar through the air and slam dunk it. That was what working with Michelle was like,” he says. “She gives an incredible performance. I don’t think I could have done the film without her.”

It’s hardly surprising he found it heart-wrenching to say goodbye. “Letting go of the movie was the hardest part because it became such a big part of my life,” he admits. “For five years, I lived with this character and this film, and both Michelle and I had a hard time taking off our wedding rings at the end. We had come to care so much about these characters, it was hard to let them go.”

Gosling, who starred in the romantic tearjerker The Notebook, tends to choose to work in indie films like Half Nelson and Lars And The Real Girl. “I love these films,” he says. “Every time I make a movie, I don’t think, ‘I want to make small movies no one ever sees’. I really think they’re going to be bigger than Avatar, it just never happens.

“Films like Blair Witch Project instigated that because it makes it seem possible for a small movie to resonate and become a success story.”

Next for him is starring with Carey Mulligan in Drive and filming political drama The Ides Of March with George Clooney. “Drive is very odd but I feel like it’s the closest thing to a superhero I have come,” he says. “I’m a huge fan of George and Grant Heslov, his producing partner. George is so enthusiastic about this film – it’s very infectious.”

■ Blue Valentine opens in cinemas tomorrow