Though he’s been plying his trade on screen since the 1980s, Ben Mendelsohn made a real splash in 2010’s Animal Kingdom. The film helped land him roles in several big projects, including Killing Them Softly and The Dark Knight Rises. He also scored a part in Derek Cianfrance's The Place Beyond The Pines, and that in turn has led to Pines co-star Ryan Gosling snapping him up for his directorial debut, How To Catch A Monster.

The now multi-hyphenate Gosling made waves when the film was announced in August with Christina Hendricks (who, of course, shared the screen with him in Drive) in the lead.

Monster, written by Gosling, is being labelled a fantasy-noir-fairy-tale, and sees Hendricks as Billy, a single mother to two kids who works in a fetish club. She’s swept away into a dark fantasy world while her teenaged son discovers a secret road leading to an underwater world. The pair must figure out various mysteries if they’re to stay alive.

Gosling plans to start the cameras whirring in May. Given that he seems to be recruiting people he’s enjoyed acting alongside in the past, could Bryan Cranston and Emma Stone’s phones start ringing in the future? We can but hope. The actor will next show up in Gangster Squad (which reunites him with Stone), on January 11.