Shawn Levy Reveals It Only Took Ryan Gosling Six Minutes to Pitch Him on Directing Marvel’s ‘Ghost Rider'

Shawn Levy has built one of Hollywood’s most productive directing careers over the past several years, bouncing between big-budget spectacle and more intimate character work without ever losing momentum. His partnership with Ryan Reynolds delivered box office hits like ‘Free Guy’ and ‘Deadpool & Wolverine,’ but it’s his newer creative bond with Ryan Gosling that’s now steering him toward one of Marvel’s most anticipated upcoming projects.

That bond took shape on the set of ‘Star Wars: Starfighter,’ where Gosling stars and also serves as an executive producer alongside Levy’s direction. Somewhere between takes, their working relationship apparently evolved into something bigger, one that would eventually lead both men onto the Hall H stage at San Diego Comic-Con.

Speaking about how quickly the pitch for Marvel’s new ‘Ghost Rider‘ film came together, Levy described a conversation that moved almost instantly from idea to commitment. Recalling the moment Gosling first brought up the character, Levy said, “Literally six minutes into him telling me about it, I’m like, ‘Yeah, let’s go. We’re doing that,'” adding, “We walked it into Kevin Feige, and here we are,” as he told People.

That casual pitch session eventually turned into one of the biggest surprises of Marvel’s Comic-Con panel, where Kevin Feige officially confirmed the project and introduced Levy as director before Gosling stepped out to a roaring crowd. Gosling will play Johnny Blaze, the motorcycle-riding antihero known as Ghost Rider, marking his first leading role within the Marvel Cinematic Universe after years of fan speculation about when he might finally join the franchise.

The pair’s chemistry clearly extends beyond just this one pitch. According to Marvel’s own coverage of the announcement, Levy told the Hall H crowd that he and Gosling spent much of their downtime on the ‘Starfighter’ set daydreaming about ‘Ghost Rider’ and trading ideas, suggesting the film’s foundation had been quietly forming for a while before it ever reached Feige’s desk.

Levy has also spoken about what makes Gosling such an effective creative partner beyond just acting talent. Describing their working dynamic, Levy noted that Gosling functions almost like a complete author on set, someone who pays close attention to details like lighting and production design and “notices everything,” a trait that appears to have translated directly into how the ‘Ghost Rider’ concept came together so quickly.

Jonathan Tropper, who wrote ‘Starfighter’ and previously co-wrote Levy’s ‘The Adam Project,’ has signed on to pen the ‘Ghost Rider’ screenplay, continuing what’s becoming a fairly tight-knit creative circle across Levy’s recent projects. That overlap in collaborators suggests Marvel is leaning heavily on an established creative shorthand rather than assembling an entirely new team from scratch.

‘Ghost Rider’ is currently set to hit theaters in 2028, giving Levy a packed upcoming schedule between this project and ‘Starfighter,’ which arrives first on May 28, 2027. For a character that’s had a complicated journey on screen, with two previous live-action attempts failing to fully capture the comic’s cult appeal, landing an actor with Gosling’s box office pull and a director fresh off a billion-dollar Marvel hit feels like a serious vote of confidence from the studio.

Given how rapidly this particular collaboration came together, from a six-minute pitch to an official Hall H announcement, it’s clear both Levy and Gosling are operating with the kind of creative trust that doesn’t need much convincing to turn into action. Whether that speed translates into a similarly confident final product remains to be seen, but the origin story alone has fans plenty excited heading into production.