Ryan Gosling’s hair for ‘A Place Beyond the Pines’ inspired by… Zack Morris?!

Time out: Ryan Gosling dyed his hair blond to look like who?!

The 31-year-old "Drive" star surprised fans last August when the first image from the set of his new film, "The Place Beyond the Pines," showed the normally dirty-blond Canadian actor with bleached-blond locks. (In the film, Gosling plays a pro motorcyclist who robs banks to support his newborn.)

But at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival on Friday, Gosling shocked them even further by revealing that the inspiration for his lighter 'do was the cheesy star of the cheesiest teen sitcom ever made.

See also: More coverage of the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival

According to Canadian gossip guru Lainey Lui, who was one of the few reporters who got to interview Gosling on the red carpet, "when I asked him about the inspiration for it, he name checked . . . Zack Morris on 'Saved By The Bell!'"

"When I did that blonde thing, I thought about when I was a kid and I wanted to be like Billy Idol," he told Extra! last year. "So I thought I'll try to do the Billy Idol thing, but I ended up looking like the guy from 'Saved By the Bell.' It just didn't work out."

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For those of you who were not lucky enough to catch "Saved By the Bell" when it originally aired from 1989 to 1993, Mark-Paul Gosselaar played Zack, the mischievous star of the series whose hair morphed over the years from a heavily-gelled short streaked '80s cut to a floppy '90s mop. And the look didn't come natural. According to IMDB, Gosselaar had to dye his hair every two weeks during production to keep it camera ready.

See also: Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper hug it out at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival

Gosling may not have gone to so much trouble for his "Beyond the Pines" look, but he is no stranger to hair shenanigans. In his 2010 film "Blue Valentine" (also directed by Derek Cianfrance), Gosling sported some extra pounds and a much-reviled head of thinning hair. He reportedly achieved the look by using thinning shears and an electric face shaver.

"It's not great, you know. But girls are forgiving, so if I ever had any ego concerns, I'd just go to some restaurant and some lady would tell me I looked better with less hair, or that I looked better with some meat on my bones," he told IndieWire. "Girls are sweet like that."

Aw, he really does know how to treat a woman, doesn't he?