Ryan Gosling: 'First meeting with Drive director was like a bad date'

Ryan Gosling couldn't wait to leave his first dinner meeting with Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn because it was an awful and uncomfortable get together.

It wasn't until afterwards that Gosling learned the moviemaker was "high on cold medication" and he just thought he'd made a dreadful choice of director after picking the Scandinavian to take charge of the action film.

He says, "It was terrible. It was like a terrible first date. He didn't look at me, he wouldn't talk to me... He looked very disinterested... It was one of those dates where you know you're not gonna get any action so you just say, 'Check please!'"

And then the meeting became really awkward when Gosling realized the director didn't have a ride home.

He recalls, "He doesn't drive. I'm thinking, 'How can this guy make a movie about driving and he doesn't even drive!' I have to take him home and we're in the car and it's awful. We're not talking so I turn on the radio and REO Speedwagon's I Can't Fight This Feeling comes on and suddenly he comes to life and starts crying and singing at the top of his lungs.

"He says, 'This is it! It's a movie about a guy who drives around listening to music.' It's what I was feeling, so I knew we were onto something. The movie wouldn't have been made if REO Speedwagon didn't come on the radio."