Would Ryan Gosling or Zac Efron really be in ‘Star Wars: Episode VII’?

The new Star Wars: Episode VII rumor that’s heating up the web is that Zac Efron and Ryan Gosling are in the running for lead roles. Yes, that sounds a little far fetched, but that’s what’s running around the web. Of course, we haven’t heard from Lucasfilm, so this is still a rumor.

The rumor started thanks to a report from Latino Review, the same site that had claimed that Harrison Ford would be coming back and that Jonathan Rhys Meyers is also in the running for a role.

That Harrison Ford news appears to be confirmed, since George Lucas famously said in March that Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher were all coming back. As for Meyers, nothing has been heard about his in Star Wars since that report and he’s not mentioned in Latino Review’s new report.

The site’s source said that Gosling would play Luke Skywalker’s son and since Episode VII would be around 30 years after Return of the Jedi, that sounds plausible. But if anyone’s following Gosling’s recent choices, him starring in a big blockbuster sounds a little strange. His newest film is the ultra-violent Only God Forgives and he’s currently working with Terrence Malick. So, Gosling is clearly more interested in prestige projects as of late.

Then again, Gosling is a household name at this point and would be the perfect young actor for Disney to pick if the studio thinks it needs a new major star to be the face of the franchise. And as people like Jennifer Lawrence have shown, its possible to topline a franchise while still doing smaller projects.

Efron is a more interesting choice. Latino Review doesn’t have him pegged for a role, but he’s also been more interested in smaller projects (like Lee Daniels’ The Paperboy) following his High School Musical and 17 Again days. Like Gosling, he’s done a Nicholas Sparks movie, so they both have some experience as romantic leads. I don’t think we’ve been able to buy Efron as a major leading Hollywood man though, so Star Wars would be a major boost for his career.

The part of the Latino Review report that’s being ignored is Leonardo DiCaprio dropping out of Star Wars to do Robotech.

The Star Wars Celebration Europe convention in Germany is underway and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy will be there, hopefully to make a major announcement. As it is now, there have been no actors confirmed for Episode VII, which is set to start production in January and will be released in 2015. Writer Michael Arndt and director J.J. Abrams are working on the film.

image: ABC

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