Ryan Gosling to Star in Daniels Sci-Fi Event Film for Universal

Filmmaking duo Daniels have found a star for their next sci-fi action comedy: Ryan Gosling.

The Oscar-winning filmmaking team behind Everything Everywhere All at Once has cast Gosling to lead the untitled event film for Universal Pictures, which is gearing up for a summer start. The film already has a release date of Nov. 19, 2027, and falls under an overall deal with the studio for their Playgrounds banner with their longtime producing partner Jonathan Wang.

It’s the first piece of news for the project in some time. The film marks the duo’s follow-up to the pop culture phenomenon that was Everything Everywhere All at Once, which won seven Academy Awards including best picture, best director and best original screenplay for Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. It also was a box office juggernaut, earning $143 million on a $25 million budget. Speaking of box office, Gosling’s casting comes as he’s riding high off the red hot debut of Project Hail Mary for Amazon MGM Studios, which opened at No. 1 at the global box office last weekend, potentially launching a new franchise for him and the studio.

Per Universal, plot details remain under wraps for Daniels’ new film, though in an interview with Collider at SXSW, Kwan revealed some broad strokes about it by calling it a “fun sci-fi, action comedy with a big heart. Very existential. All those things that you would hope that one of our movies would be.” He added that the film will also meet the moment of a “complex” world. “One of the reasons why it’s taking so long is because what we’re feeling and what we’re hearing from the world is very complex and really nuanced, and there’s so much paradox. To kind of reconcile all those things and put them into one movie, it takes time,” he said.

The film will also feature an ensemble made up of younger talent, with one source indicating it could be be in the zone of high school ages. Kwan, Scheinert and Wang are producing through their Playgrounds banner. Universal’s executive vp of production development Sara Scott and director of production development Jacqueline Garell are overseeing the project for the studio.

The news also comes as Universal’s Focus Features is readying to release The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist, which Kwan and Wang produced for the filmmaking team of Daniel Roher and Charlie Tyrell. The well-reviewed film hits theaters tomorrow on March 27.

Gosling is repped by CAA and Sloane Offer. Daniels are represented by Mosaic and Yorn Levine.

Deadline first reported the news.