The birthday surprise was not subtle.
Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling showed up together in public Thursday evening for the first time in more than a decade, with Gosling enlisting “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” host for help in surprising his longtime partner for her 52nd birthday.
Gosling was on the show to promote his upcoming film, “Project Hail Mary,” in which he plays a high school teacher tasked with saving the world. So he asked Fallon to arrange for an audience full of — you guessed it — high school teachers. Because Mendes absolutely loves teachers, he said.
And then there was the request that they surprise Mendes by singing “Happy Birthday” when she came out on stage. It was unclear whether Gosling also ordered up the marching band that played backup, but Fallon wound up crediting him for the whole deal, which we assume included the, um, confetti cannon.
So back to Gosling, who along with Mendes is very private about their relationship and hasn’t been seen at a public event with her (His partner? His wife? Who knows, who cares) since they promoted their 2013 movie “The Place Beyond the Pines.”
He talked about the movie, of course, sharing some funny video from a promotional spot he recorded.
“This was crazy,” the “Crazy, Stupid, Love” actor told Fallon and the “Tonight Show” audience. “I swear, this is not a paid ad. I swear this happened. This was not planned. I had to do a little thing with Alexa, where I just was supposed to ask her facts about the movie. … And this is what happened. This is what she said, I swear.”
In the video, Gosling quizzed Alexa about why people should see the movie in theaters instead of waiting for it to stream at home.
“Because the Imax visuals are absolutely stunning,” Alexa said. But it was what she said next that warmed Gosling’s heart.
“Plus, Eva Mendes herself called it a masterpiece that brings back the magic of the big screen experience that you just can’t get the full impact of on your couch at home,” Alexa said.
“That Eva Mendes is great, isn’t she?” Gosling said in his trademark slight-smirk delivery.
“Absolutely. She’s got this incredible range that people don’t always give her credit for” — at this point Gosling blurted an enthusiastic “Thank you!” — “from her breakthrough in ‘Training Day’ to that beautiful performance in ‘The Place Beyond the Pines’ with Ryan Gosling, she brings this authentic vulnerability to every role.”
At this point, Gosling kissed Alexa, who was made out of red plastic and had a “Project Hail Mary” image emblazoned on her speaker.
“Plus, she’s been smart about stepping back from acting to focus on family,” Alexa continued, “which shows she’s got her priorities straight.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” said Gosling, who’s been with Mendes since 2011 and welcomed two daughters with her. Whether they are officially married is, of course, a mystery. And he did kiss Alexa, which could complicate things. That Alexa, she’s a hustler.
But married or not, Gosling was 100% committed to surprising Mendes on her 52nd trip around the sun. Turns out she was backstage at the show, thinking she was going to get the opportunity to tell the audience full of teachers how much she appreciated what they do every day. So someone brought her to the set, where Gosling greeted her with a “Hi, sweetheart” and held her hand as he pulled her to center stage.
Mendes, apparently thinking her appearance wouldn’t be part of the show, immediately burst into a paean to teaching, telling the educators who were assembled, “I love teachers so much, you guys. We owe so much to you guys. You’re so underpaid and you’re so — I just — thank you so much. I had so many amazing teachers.”
Then she turned to Fallon and said, “You’ll cut all this, right?” Seems she hadn’t put two and two together when Gosling pointed her toward the mark on the floor where she was supposed to stand for the cameras.
Nope, the host said. We love this.
So Mendes went on. “I had so many amazing teachers mentor me,” she said, speaking rapidly and enthusiastically, “and I just want to say thank you to you guys.”
But Fallon reminded her that this was her day — her birthday. And Gosling pointed out that among the educators there were some band directors.
“Yes, we have band directors from North Bergen High School,” Fallon announced. “Ladies and gentlemen, here to play ‘Happy Birthday’ to Eva Mendes, we have the North Bergen High School marching band.”
And there they were, a dozen or two members of that marching band, in full regalia, with two people holding a “Happy Birthday Eva!” banner and the rest blasting out the familiar tune. The entire audience joined in serenading the woman of the hour as they clapped along. Mendes clapped along as well.
As a finale, yup, confetti blasted out over those onstage. And Fallon gave credit where it was due.
“That’s all him,” he said, indicating Gosling, which prompted Mendes to grab her beau’s face and start whispering into his ear. And that’s the most fans are likely to see the twosome behaving like a twosome in public, at least until maybe 2039 or so. Maybe for her 65th birthday. Or her 70th. Or perhaps their AI holograms will one day reveal whether they said “I do.”
By the way, all those teachers were the ones who got the birthday gift last night. Fallon announced they would be going to a special screening of “Project Hail Mary” after the taping, and the teachers’ delight was palpable.
Very nice, “Tonight Show.” You and Ryan Gosling made some people very happy Thursday. Including one Eva Mendes.
“Project Hail Mary” hits theaters March 20.
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