Shawn Levy is definitely a director who goes through periods of his career where he has a specific stock company or a creative muse.
For a while, it was Ben Stiller with the Night at the Museum trilogy; then it was Ryan Reynolds with Deadpool, Free Guy, and The Adam Project, and now, his latest frequent collaborator appears to be Ryan Gosling.
Fresh off working together on Star Wars: Starfighter, the pair are keeping their talents in-house at Disney and are set to make a reboot of Ghost Rider for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Speaking to People at D23 about his relationship with Gosling, Levy remarked, "Some actors are great muses, right? Some actors are just amazing on screen and you’re inspired telling that story. The thing about Gosling is he’s a great muse and he’s inspiring, but he’s also a great partner.”
He continued, "He thinks like a full spectrum creative. He’s an artist. He’s an incredible actor, but he’s also thinking about the lighting, the fabric on the wall. He’s noticing everything.”
Levy then disclosed how their working relationship on Starfighter led to their continued collaboration for Ghost Rider.
"This collaboration felt really good to both of us. Trust developed. We found we brought each other to better work because of each other. So after we wrapped [Starfighter], we just started talking about what else we might do together...Literally six minutes into him telling me about [Ghost Rider], I’m like, ‘Yeah, let’s go. We’re doing that.’ We walked it into Kevin [Feige] and here we are.”
This echoed what Kevin Feige revealed back in July at San Diego Comic-Con, where he disclosed that it was Gosling who approached the studio, not the other way around.
"He is a huge fan of the comics; he did come to us particularly with a specific vision, based on some particular comics," said Feige.
Marvel Studios recently dated Ghost Rider for a July 28, 2028 release in theaters.
Gosling is all but assuredly playing the Johnny Blaze version of Ghost Rider, who in standard Marvel Lore, is a stunt rider who made a desperate bargain with the demon Mephisto to save his dying, adopted father's life.
However, in typical Marvel Comics fashion, the deal went sideways, binding Blaze to the demon Zarathos and cursing him to transform into a flaming-skull vigilante known as the Spirit of Vengeance.
While Johnny kicked off the modern, supernatural era of Ghost Rider when he debuted in 1972, he technically isn't the first as the Western Marvel hero Carter Slade aka Pale Rider, debuted in 1967.