Matt Smith has claimed Ryan Gosling was judged more harshly for Lost River because of who he is.

The former Doctor Who actor stars in Ryan’s directorial debut, which was panned at Cannes last year, but he said that some of the criticisms levelled at it were unfair.

He told Total Film: “I think because Ryan’s Ryan, people will always have a particular take on it, because it’s impossible for people not to go, ‘We have to judge it because it’s the movie star we know as Ryan Gosling’.”

Matt Smith
Matt Smith (Lefteris Pitarakis/PA)

Ryan himself also stood up for his film, saying he wasn’t offended by bad reviews.

He said of the criticism: “I think it’s great. What’s great about films is that you don’t have to like them. It’s up to you what you think of it – not everyone’s supposed to have one experience.

“You can have a bad experience, that’s fine. You can watch it later and have a good experience, and vice versa. I’ve seen films that I had an expectation about when I saw them and I didn’t like them because they didn’t meet my expectation. Then later on I saw them in a different space and I had a different experience.

Ryan Gosling
Ryan Gosling (Simone Comi/IPA MilestoneMedia/Empics Entertainment)

“They have their own life and they find who they want to find. At least people are having an experience – and that’s all you can hope for.”

Lost River, a fantasy thriller about a single mother and her family, is released in cinemas on April 24.