An internet campaign to get Canadian actor Ryan Gosling to enjoy a cup of java at a local Toronto coffee shop has worked.
Grinder Coffee in the east end of the city has been trying for nine days to get Gosling to pop by their shop while he’s in town promoting his Neil Armstrong biopic "First Man" at the Toronto International Film Festival.
On Tuesday, the campaign’s efforts proved fruitful as the cafe posted a photo of store owner Joelle Murray hugging Gosling with the caption: “This happened…it worked.”
“Ryan Gosling actually walked into our shop, so it’s been quite an exciting day,” Murray told CTVNews.ca on Tuesday evening. “He was just here for a few minutes. He came in (and) I pounced upon him.”
“He actually (saw) all the posts and thought they were quite funny.”
Murray said that while Gosling took notice of the posts, it was his mother -- and date to Monday’s premiere -- who convinced him to visit.
“She has free coffee for life at Grinder whenever she wants,” she said.
Last year, Grinder Coffee ran a similar campaign to get Idris Elba to stop by while promoting his movie "Molly’s Game" at TIFF, but it proved unsuccessful. It generated so much buzz however that Murray decided to hold a vote to determine who this year’s celebrity target would be.
While the campaigns are based on which stars are coming to TIFF, Murray says she’d ideally want to share a coffee with Irish actor Chris O’Dowd, best known for his big screen roles in “Bridesmaids” and “This is 40.”
“I absolutely adore him,” she said. “I would love Chris O’Dowd to come see me anytime he wants to have a coffee. I think he’d actually more want to have a pint.”
And this happened... it worked. Our #ryanneedsgrinder campaign actually worked. The man himself Ryan Gosling showed up...
Posted by Grinder Coffee on Tuesday, 11 September 2018
