Ryan Gosling revealed a sweet tribute to his longtime love Eva Mendes in his forthcoming movie The Fall Guy.

The 43-year-old Barbie actor stars in the movie alongside the likes of Emily Blunt. While promoting the project at SXSW this week, Ryan explained how he showed love to one of Eva‘s late pets with the addition of a precious sidekick.

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“Eva used to have a dog named Hugo who was a Belgian Malinois who was an attack dog. He only spoke French,” Ryan told the audience during a Q&A session, via The Hollywood Reporter.

In the movie, Ryan‘s character begins working with a dog who also only understands French.

“He’s passed now, so this is my homage to him,” he said about Hugo.

Director David Leitch also commented on the adorable costar.

“We wanted to bring this additional character into the mix,” he explained. “When you are in an action scene you are always trying to give yourself problems to make things fresh. Rain is good. Ice is good. And then adding an animal on set is always great.”

Find out why Ryan and Eva moved away from Hollywood. You’ll also want to see how Eva reacted to Ryan‘s performance onstage during the 2024 Oscars over the weekend!