In order to respond emotionally to a pattern of light on a screen, audiences are adept at the willing suspension of disbelief - those aren't pixels, they're people. Perhaps that makes it easier to accept film characters that do the same thing and imbue imaginary or inanimate objects with human needs and desires. It could be a fellow who gallivants about with an invisible talking rabbit. Or a lonely guy who acquires a life-size female doll and treats her as a romantic partner. This can be a little weird but essentially neutral (Dennis Hopper in River's Edge) or a lot weird and life-threatening (Desmond Harrington in Love Object). Or, as Ryan Gosling demonstrates in Lars and the Real Girl, it can be touching and sweet.

In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, he spoke about the subculture of men who choose to share their lives with artificial women: "Part of it is sexual, but a lot of it is emotional. One guy goes hang gliding, and he takes his doll to watch, so that he has someone to support him in the things that he likes to do. Some guys cook with them and have dinners; they're part of the fabric of their life. So, all of this is possible...I think it's a romantic idea the way that (writer) Nancy (Oliver) approached the script, that love's not a transaction. It's something you have to give, and you give it freely to whoever and whatever you want."

Gosling went on to say that to be true to the spirit of the film, "We tried to honor how Lars felt about Bianca, tried to achieve that level of intimacy. The focus puller would apologize if we got too close to her eye when he was taking the focus and not realize he'd done it."

Oddly enough, this was not the first time I'd learned about a production crew member getting caught up in the illusion. In his Broadway show "The Two and Only," which I saw in 2006, ventriloquist Jay Johnson (best know for his role on the 1970s sitcom "Soap") told an anecdote about a boom operator who kept angling the microphone toward Johnson's wooden partner, Bob, whenever Bob had a line.