'It worked': Ryan Gosling surprises coffee shop owner who campaigned for him to visit — with a life-size cardboard cutout
Hey, girl — I dig your cardboard cutout of me.
The owner of Grinder Coffee in Toronto waged a fan campaign to get Canada native Ryan Gosling to visit her café during the Toronto International Film Festival. For 10 days, she posed with a cardboard cutout of the star of The Notebook — and allowed her customers to do the same — while making public pleas for The Gos to visit her café. On the 10th day, she received the surprise of her life.
And this happened… #ryanneedsgrinder worked. The man himself showed up. What a good sport, a well brought up Canadian boy. We truly appreciate Ryan taking the time the time to visit us during #tiff. Take that @idriselba your loss. pic.twitter.com/8rMMWOs32J
— GrinderCoffeeGerrard (@GrinderCoffeeTO) September 11, 2018
The actor, in town promoting his film First Man, showed up for coffee on Tuesday — take that fake Ryan cardboard cutout! — and owner Joelle Murray tells Yahoo Entertainment that he “is one cool cat.”
Murray had been trying to get Gosling’s attention for some time. After deciding which celeb to target (or “stalk“) via a poll of customers back in July, she decided on Eva Mendes’s main man. In late August, the life-size cardboard version of Gosling arrived, and by early September, she started her online campaign, which was timed to coincide with the film festival.
See @RyanGosling we are very dedicated to our campaign. 10 days of posting of why you should have coffee with us. #ryanneedsgrinder #toronto #TIFF2018 @blogTO #coffeetime ##coffeeto pic.twitter.com/iOwnZHfnnQ
— GrinderCoffeeGerrard (@GrinderCoffeeTO) September 4, 2018
Day 4 of #ryanneedsgrinder .Real @RyanGosling meet Grinder Ryan. Think of the fun you could have taking selfies with a selfie. If you do you get to be entered into our contest. @idriselba didn't get that treatment #YYZ #TIFF #welovethis pic.twitter.com/8tvUK1c0yq
— GrinderCoffeeGerrard (@GrinderCoffeeTO) September 6, 2018
Day 8 of our #ryanneedsgrinder campaign. We took Grinder Ryan out for drinks to celebrate #TIFF2018 . Listen #ryangosling this is getting weird. We need the Real Ryan to show up so we can show him our Grinder hospitality. #TIFF #leslieville #coffeehouse #cafeyyz pic.twitter.com/r7igABrQgc
— GrinderCoffeeGerrard (@GrinderCoffeeTO) September 10, 2018
Day 9 of our #ryanneedsgrinder campaign. Perhaps you are lost? Do you need us to call you an #Uber ? You can pay us back when you get here. It only takes 18min to get here so no excuses now. #ryangosling #Toronto #tiff #coffee #gerrardstreeteast #tdot pic.twitter.com/hysK2ZrbF1
— GrinderCoffeeGerrard (@GrinderCoffeeTO) September 11, 2018
The good-natured attempt got a boost in popularity when Toronto’s mayor stopped in and posed with fake Ryan.
Got my morning coffee at @GrinderCoffeeTO today and checked out their campaign to get @RyanGosling to visit during @TIFF_NET. pic.twitter.com/Ckyu1hSQTF
— John Tory (@TorontosMayor) September 1, 2018
Murray tells us “it was a complete and total surprise” when she saw Gosling pull up outside her restaurant. “I was excited beyond words. I jumped up and thanked him profusely for coming. He said he thought the campaign was funny… We just think we is one cool cat. We really cant believe what a kind man he was to come.”
She also told Canada’s CBC that it was Gosling’s mom who urged him to visit — and it was a quick visit, just about two minutes. “He was very well-spoken, a wonderful Canadian boy with very good manners,” she said.
And if you’re wondering what the Idris Elba dig is all about in her Facebook post (“Take that, Idris Elba — your loss,” she wrote), Murray tried to lure the British star to her café last year during the film fest but was unsuccessful. Well, the “wonderful Canadian boy” didn’t let her down.
Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:
