FUSE TV - ACL Fest 2012: Ryan Gosling, Rooney Mara Join Black Lips Onstage

Austin City Limits Festival always packs a few surprises, but I don’t think anyone was expecting this: A guitar-slinging Rooney Mara joined the Black Lips onstage and rocked alongside them for one song while Ryan Gosling watched from stage left. Oh, and reclusive director Terrence Malick was on hand filming the whole thing. 

Why? Because that’s just how they do things in Texas. Big state, big hats and big movie stars! Actually, Mara and Gosling are part of an in-the-works Malick film about "sexual obsession and betrayal set against the music scene in Austin," which is why the unsuspecting audience was given this insanely awesome treat. Not that this really explains why the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo mimed playing guitar alongside the Atlanta flower punks while Gosling broodingly watched her. 

But given how secretive Malick is about his films, we’ll probably have to wait until the untitled flick comes out for this to make any sense. Then again, given how experimental (i.e., bonkers) Tree of Life was, we may never truly understand why Gosling, Mara & the Black Lips joined forces in 82-degree heat at ACL fest for a couple minutes.

This is actually the second time the legendary director was spotted filming at Austin City Limits Fest. Last year, he shot some footage of Christian Bale playing bongos with Fleet Foxes at ACL 2011 (yes, seriously). Unfortunately, no sightings of Batman at ACL so far this year. 

For a glimpse of the fleeting, bizarre happening, watch the YouTube clips below that someone from SlashFilm shot on their cell. Mara is the one dressed in black, thumpin' on the bass, and you can sorta see Gosling and Malick to the side of the stage. 

Let's hope some close-up pics of Gosling at ACL pop up, because this is perfect for the "hey girl" Gosling meme. "Hey girl, you rock my world." "Hey girl, why don't you slap my bass?" And so forth.

UPDATE: Apparently Michael Fassbender was there, too! You can check out Instagram pics of Fassbender behind-the-scenes at ACL over here.