Ryan Gosling starred in a drama.
Lars and the Real Girl is a 2007 comedy-drama film written by Nancy Oliver and directed by Craig Gillespie . Ryan Gosling . His first starring film role was as a Jewish neo-Nazi in The Believer ( 2001 ) , and he went on to star in several independent films , including Murder by Numbers ( 2002 ) , The Slaughter Rule ( 2002 ) , and The United States of Leland ( 2003 ) . Greater success came to Gosling when he starred in two critically acclaimed filmsthe financial comedy-drama The Big Short ( 2015 ) and the musical La La Land ( 2016 ) . The Believer is a 2001 American drama film directed by Henry Bean and written by Bean and Mark Jacobson . The United States of Leland is a 2003 American drama film written and directed by Matthew Ryan Hoge that follows a meek teenage boy , the eponymous Leland , who has inexplicably committed a shocking murder .