Shawn Levy has hailed Ryan Gosling as a "true partner" in the making of Star Wars: Starfighter.

The 57-year-old director is helming the upcoming sci-fi blockbuster that will star Gosling in the lead role and revealed that his collaborative partnership with the Barbie actor is helping him cope with the "pressure" of making a movie in the legendary space franchise.

Levy told Collider: "Ryan is a generational talent.

"He's someone I have admired and loved on screen for so many years and across so many genres, but as a collaborator and true partner, Ryan and I first from script development, through the prep, through the shoot and even now in post-production, I constantly check in with him and lean on him, and we stumbled onto this powerful, creative flow and that will make Starfighter better.

"Maybe, what's of extra value, making Star Wars, you never forget the pressure, it's daily, and it's global. And so, having a touchstone, so you can just focus on the next shot and scene, so you focus on the minutiae, that got me through."

Gosling is joined in the cast by the teenage Irish actor Flynn Gray and Levy is confident that the youngster will be able to handle the expectation that comes with appearing in Star Wars - likening the 15-year-old star to many of the child stars he worked with on the Netflix series Stranger Things.

The Deadpool and Wolverine helmer said: "If you cast someone in a big part in Star Wars opposite Ryan Gosling, you need them to be more than good, you need them to have poise, you need them to have enough internal solidity that they can handle these competing forces and all the noise that comes with it.

"And Flynn Gray has that inner, solid sense of self, and frankly, not unlike Gaten (Materazzo), Finn (Wolfhard), Caleb (McLaughlin), Sadie (Sink), Millie (Bobby Brown) and the other young actors on Stranger Things, Carmen (Cuba) - with Nina Gold as her collaborator - they found this young actor who had never been in a movie before but approached every day with preparation and grace."

Meanwhile, Gosling previously hailed Star Wars: Starfighter - which is slated for release in May 2027 - as a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" that made him reverse his usual policy of turning down franchise films.

Speaking to io9 earlier this year, the 45-year-old star said: "It was Shawn's enthusiasm and his vision and the script.

"And I just avoided these things because they never felt right. And I'm glad I did because I feel like, [similar to] a book like this, [it was] worth waiting for. And it is like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."