Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes are one of Hollywood’s most private yet beloved couples, and their love story began on the set of The Place Beyond the Pines. Released in 2012, the crime drama brought the two actors together in roles as a complicated couple raising a child amidst turbulent circumstances. Their on-screen chemistry quickly translated into real life, sparking a relationship that would soon lead to them building a family of their own.
In The Place Beyond the Pines, Gosling plays a motorcycle stuntman-turned-bank robber, while Mendes portrays his love interest, Romina. During filming, the two were often immersed in scenes where they were portraying a family, and it left a profound impact on Gosling. Reflecting on those moments, he once said, “After I met Eva, I realized that I just didn’t want to have kids without her. And there were moments on The Place Beyond the Pines where we were pretending to be a family, and I didn’t really want it to be pretend anymore.”
This quote speaks to how deeply Mendes had affected him, inspiring a desire for real family life beyond the confines of the film set. The couple has since welcomed two daughters together and has continued to keep their relationship and family life largely out of the public eye, which only adds to the mystique of their romance. Gosling and Mendes remain one of Hollywood’s rare couples who managed to turn on-screen passion into a lasting, real-world connection, with their love story rooted in that pivotal experience on The Place Beyond the Pines.
