Ryan Gosling is known for bringing depth and intensity to his roles, but these days, it’s his role as a father that is shaping him the most — both on and off the screen.

While promoting his upcoming sci-fi film Project Hail Mary, Gosling opened up about how fatherhood has completely reframed the way he thinks about sacrifice. And for him, it’s no longer complicated.

“…Once you have kids, it’s like, [sacrifices] are easy. It’s an easy call to make,” Gosling told PEOPLE. “You know, I think it’s different for this character because he doesn’t have that. And, yeah, so…it’s much more of an existential crisis for him too, and he doesn’t believe in himself very much anyway.”

That contrast is at the heart of Project Hail Mary, where Gosling plays Ryland Grace, a science teacher who wakes up alone on a spaceship with no memory of how he got there. As his memory slowly returns, he realizes he’s been sent on a critical mission to save Earth from a mysterious threat to the sun. It’s a story filled with high-stakes decisions, uncertainty, and ultimately, sacrifice.

But unlike Gosling, his character doesn’t have the grounding force of family to guide him.

Gosling said that lack of connection makes the character’s journey even more difficult. “I think that’s also what’s so relatable about his journey is that he just doesn’t [believe in himself],” he explained. “He has to learn to, you know, believe in himself, and, you know, he’s put into this situation that forces him to find what’s in there that he didn’t know was there.”

It’s a theme that resonates beyond the screen — the idea that people often don’t realize their own strength until they’re pushed into challenging circumstances.

“And I think we all have that in us,” Gosling added. “Just what are the circumstances that will bring it out?”

For Gosling, those circumstances came in the form of fatherhood. The actor shares two daughters, Esmeralda Amada, 11, and Amada Lee, 9, with longtime partner Eva Mendes. Since becoming a dad, he says his priorities have shifted in a major way — including the types of roles he chooses.

Rather than chasing every opportunity, Gosling is now more intentional, weighing how projects will impact his time with his family and whether the content is something he’d feel comfortable sharing with his kids.

“I think we look for films that we can bring our family to so that we can go to the theater to see [it] and kind of recreate some of those experiences that I had as a kid,” he told Movieguide®.

That desire to create meaningful, shared experiences speaks to something many parents can relate to — wanting to pass down moments of joy, wonder, and connection to the next generation.

It’s also one of the reasons Project Hail Mary stood out to him.

“And I also felt like the optimism in this film was something that I wanted to share with my kids,” Gosling said, “the sense that maybe the future isn’t something to be feared, but just to be figured out.”

In a world that often feels uncertain, that message carries weight. And for Gosling, it’s one that starts at home — where love, responsibility, and sacrifice come into clearer focus than ever before.

Through both his work and his words, Gosling’s perspective offers a simple but powerful reminder: when love leads the way, even the hardest sacrifices can feel like an easy choice.