Throughout the movie, Gosling lined his child blues and wore brown contact lenses as a result of James Garner, the celebrated actor who performed the older Noah, had brown eyes. While Gosling was very fascinated about continuity, Garner, who handed away in July 2014, actually did not care. According to Cassavetes, Gosling approached the older thespian about accents as properly, resulting in a hilariously awkward dialog.

“[Ryan] says, ‘I was thinking about accents. There’s all kinds of South Carolina accents—one’s more rural and this and that. [Garner] goes, ‘I don’t do accents, kid. They’re stupid,’” Cassavetes stated, “And [Ryan] goes, ‘OK. What about eye color? I have blue eyes. You have brown eyes.’ He says, ‘Everyone knows Jim Garner’s got brown eyes. Do what you want, kid.’ [Ryan] says, ‘OK, I guess I’ll wear contacts. What about hair?’ And he says, ‘Do whatever you want, kid. Nice to meet you. See you later.’ Ryan looked at me and said, ‘Shut up, don’t even say a word.’ So that’s just an example of two extremely different types of acting styles. Both are wildly successful.”

Another instance of Gosling’s technique performing going just a little too far was his suggestion that they burn down Noah’s home as a metaphor for his emotions. “He’d come to me and say, ‘Why can’t I burn the house down?’” Cassavetes revealed, “I’d say, ‘Because I don’t even know what that means.’ And he’d say, ‘Cleansing my fire!’”

Gosling’s concept did not make the ultimate reduce.