Crazy, Stupid, Love Writer Reveals Secret Behind Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone’s Onscreen Chemistry

Screenwriter Dan Fogelman revealed the secret behind Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone's natural chemistry, explaining that this romantic scene in Crazy, Stupid, Love was all "improvised."

By Lindsay Weinberg Jul 29, 2021 8:27 PMTags

We hold this truth to be self-evident, that Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling have undeniable onscreen chemistry.

From La La Land to Gangster Squad, the longtime co-stars light up every screen they're on. 

But for the 10-year anniversary of their crazy big hit (that would be Crazy, Stupid, Love), writer Dan Fogelman revealed a little secret about how they pulled off one of their most romantic moments. 

"Ten years. Damn," Dan tweeted on July 29. "My favorite scene is Gosling and Emma falling in love in bed. All improvised," he said, likely referring to one scene in which their characters Jacob and Hannah cozy up under the covers and laugh about some of their funniest habits.

"Is this one of those foam pillows from Brookstone?" Hannah asks at the beginning of the montage. "You don't have one of those ridiculous, um, massage chairs, do you?" He sheepishly confirms, later admitting he has an addiction to the Home Shopping Network, while she opens up about being a "little bossy" growing up. 

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Emma Stone and Dave McCary: Romance Rewind

"Will you do me a kindness? Will you ask me something personal about myself?" he asks at one point, to which she replies, "Okay, fine, I'll do it and then we bang."

Dan was not initially impressed by their improvised intimacy, recalling, "I thought everyone had lost their minds and that none of it would be in the movie—I left set early, irritated."

Now, the This is Us creator realizes that it was pure, spontaneous movie magic. A decade later, Dan confessed, "I'm a dope." 

Carousel Productions/Entertainment Pictures via ZUMA Press

Of course, it was all part of the job for Ryan and Emma. Off screen, she was reportedly dating Kieran Culkin from 2010 to 2011 and was then linked with her Amazing Spider-Man co-star Andrew Garfield for about four years. Emma found her happily ever after with Saturday Night Live writer Dave McCary, who popped the question in 2019.

Ryan also started dating one of his co-stars, Eva Mendes, after filming Crazy, Stupid, Love. The Notebook star fell in love with Eva on the set of the 2012 film The Place Beyond the Pines.

Emma and Ryan still have a soft spot for one another all these years later. The Cruella actress refers to him as her "dear, wonderful friend," saying in 2018, "I can't even imagine what my life would be without Ryan." 

Keep scrolling to see more of their heartwarming quotes about one another. 

Special Friend

"I can't even imagine what my life would be without Ryan," Emma Stone said about her "dear, wonderful friend" Ryan Gosling during a Q&A at the 45th Annual Telluride Film Festival in Telluride, Colorado in September 2018. "He's so special. It makes me emotional. He's so talented but he's such a great person to work with because he's so collaborative and excited about the process. He's taught me a lot about being really generous."

Getting Better Together

"We made two films together and now three, and so you know it's great to work with people you know," Gosling told E! News at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2016. "I think it brings the best out of them because you know one another, and you are able to help each other in a way that you can't if you're strangers."

Crazy, Stupid, Teammates

"He's so genuinely funny and such a good...I keep calling him teammate, but he is! He's a good teammate," Stone explained during a junket for Crazy, Stupid, Love. "He's really fun to act with and hang out with. He's just...I dunno. He's the best!"

Adventure Buddies

"Ryan Gosling, thank you for making me laugh and for always raising the bar and for being the greatest partner on this crazy adventure," Stone said during her acceptance speech for Best Actress for La La Land at the 2017 Oscars.

We're All Canadian, Eh?

"Well, I like working with Emma because I think she's secretly Canadian," Gosling jokingly said during a Q&A for La La Land at the TIFF screening in 2016. Stone then shimmied on stage making everyone in attendance break into laughter. "That's why we get along so well," he continued. "She's wildly apologetic for no reason at all."

Maybe a Little Too Close

"He has a restraining order against me now," Stone playfully told E! News when asked about making another movie with her longtime friend and co-star Gosling in 2016. "I'm just going to have to stay like a hundred feet away at everything else we do together. No, it's so much fun to work with him [but] I don't know if they'll let us do anything."

Pals for Life

"We really hit it off," the Arizona native told Entertainment Tonight at La La Land's premiere at the Venice Film Festival in 2016 about what it was like when she first met Gosling. "We've been just pals ever since. He is a wonderful person, but also an incredible actor. It's a lucky thing that we get to do three. It's not bad."

Greatest Gift

"Emma Stone is just, like, constantly opening Christmas presents," Gosling revealed during an interview about 2011's Crazy, Stupid, Love. "There's nobody like her. As soon as she signed on to the film, I knew it was going to be good."

Simply the Best

"Ryan, you're the best. That's just the truth. No one can argue it," Stone said while accepting the SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role for La La Land in 2017. 

More Money, More Emma

"The truth is, Emma Stone owes me money," Gosling jokingly admitted as the reason he did another movie with Stone after Crazy, Stupid, Love. "If I show up here or I have to do another movie with her to get it, I will," he told E! News at the 2013 premiere of the duo's second film together, Gangster Squad.

Work Hard, Play Hard

"I am. It's so nice to be friends with someone and get to work, I mean it is fun to work with people again, because you sort of know their process a little bit more," Stone told E! News about working with Gosling in La La Land during a press junket for her film Irrational Man. "This is singing and tap dancing so, it's really fun to get to do that [together]."

Fun Times Since Day One

"It's so much fun working with her," the Canadian actor told ABC about Stone before the 2017 Academy Awards. "We've been really lucky that we were asked to improvise on our first film together, and that's where we created a connection."

"We've been really lucky to work that way," he added.