‘Drive’ movie premiere: Ryan Gosling, Bryan Cranston, Christina Hendricks get bloody, dreamy

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Ryan Gosling, the charismatic star of the film ‘Drive,’ which premiered at the L.A. Film Festival on Friday night, appeared on the red carpet in bright red socks 15 minutes before the film was scheduled to screen. Flanked by ‘Breaking Bad’ star Bryan Cranston, ‘Mad Men’ dream girl Christina Hendricks and a very content Albert Brooks, Gosling owned the evening.

But the film, for all of the hype and critical praise surrounding it, proved that there is no such thing as going it alone. ‘Drive’ took a village of talented actors and a Danish director almost as strange as the film, which reveled in cartoonish violence that transported the audience to a brutal L.A. dreamscape rooted in the lush landscape of MacArthur Park and the sullen stagnancy of Valley strip malls.

‘I feel like a car kind of puts you under a spell,’ Gosling said. ‘You get into it and you get out, and you don’t really remember ... the whole process of driving. And movies do that too.’

The dark, moody film comes to the festival with a good deal of critical success, including promising early buzz from the film festival in Cannes.

‘Knowing this director’s previous work I was so excited by him and what he’s been doing that I expected this was what he would produce,’ Hendricks said of the film.

Brooks, who was on a book tour when the film debuted at Cannes, said he’d heard stories of a 13-minute ovation. ‘I thought, geez, I’d like to be there. I’d like to see what that feels like,’ he said. And although he says he didn’t exactly know the movie was going to be so special when he was involved in shooting, he wasn’t surprised by the hype.

Danish director Winding Refn said his favorite part of making the film was that each night after shooting he would have Gosling drive him to Hollywood’s 101 Coffee Shop where the two friends would eat pie. Winding Refn has no license to drive, so he would rely on Gosling for transportation.

Transportation issues notwithstanding, he did make it to the premiere’s after-party on the rooftop of the Standard hotel in downtown L.A., where revelers enjoyed an open bar and nibbled on ahi tuna skewers and mini sliders while chatting about all things cinematic.

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-- Jessica Gelt

Top photo: Christina Hendricks arrives at the ‘Drive’ Gala Premiere during the 2011 Los Angeles Film Festival at Regal Cinemas L.A. Live on Friday. Credit: Jason Merritt / Getty Images.

Right photo: Ryan Gosling arrives at the premiere. Credit: Jason Merritt / Getty Images.