One of the most heart-wrenching films of this past Oscar season had to be Blue Valentine starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams. The film shows, in painfully honest detail, the destruction of a marriage. Williams’ performance got her an Oscar nod, and now the man behind the camera is talking about his next feature. Director Derek Cianfrance said his next project, The Place Beyond the Pines, will be about “the transformative power of fatherhood and the idea of what happens though generations, the things that get passed down.” Furthermore, his Blue Valentine star Ryan Gosling is set to play the lead:

“Ryan’s going to play Luke, a motorcycle stunt rider who finds out he has a baby and he tries to become a father. It’s kind of an epic movie. It takes place over a couple of generations and it’s kind of a crime story, kind of a mystery. I’ve had people tell me they feel like its The Deer Hunter meets The Godfather.”

In his interview with The Playlist, Cianfrance said the film is influenced by the works of author Jack London. He also revealed that they’re in the middle of financing right now and plan on shooting sometime this summer in New York. The director is also currently working on a bodybuilding comedy for HBO.