Saoirse Ronan recently reflected on Ryan Gosling’s unexpected exit from The Lovely Bones and how he was eventually replaced by Mark Wahlberg.
On the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the 30-year-old actress confessed it was “sad” to see Gosling go but knew why it occurred.
Gosling was casted in 2007 to portray Jack Salmon, the bereaved father of Susie Salmon (played by Ronan). Jack is obsessed with discovering his daughter’s murderer and is an intensely emotional and complex character.
Yet, even before filming had commenced, Gosling dropped out of the project over “creative differences,“ and Wahlberg replaced him.
Ryan Gosling is famous for his commitment to his roles, tending to change his body and mind to get into character. In this instance, however, his dedication backfired in a rather different manner.
Gosling felt that Jack Salmon’s pain needed to be reflected in his body. He pictured the character as being overweight and physically broken down by emotional distress, something that he felt would make Jack’s suffering more apparent and understandable.
With his mind set on making his vision a reality, Gosling embarked on an extreme method of putting on weight—before filming even started, he added 60 pounds. Instead of going through a conventional diet, however, he opted for an unusual and unconventional method:
“I was melting tubs of Haagen-Dazs ice cream and drinking them when I was thirsty. It was the quickest way I could gain weight.”
Gosling gained the weight rapidly, believing this transformation was the key to making Jack’s emotional turmoil feel more real and authentic on-screen.
But what Gosling didn’t realize was that his vision for the character did not align with director Peter Jackson’s.
Peter Jackson, the acclaimed filmmaker behind The Lord of the Rings trilogy, had an entirely different vision for Jack Salmon.
When Gosling arrived on location, weighing 210 pounds, he was greeted by instant confusion. It soon dawned on him that he had gotten the director’s expectations wrong.
“I just went to set, and I’d gotten it wrong,” Gosling confessed later. “Then I was out of work and obese.”
It wasn’t simply embarrassing—it was a career gaffe that need never have occurred if only the actor and the production team had communicated more clearly.
Gosling later admitted that not much had been discussed between him and the filmmakers regarding the body of the character prior to him agreeing to gain the weight.
Had there been more defined pre-production talks, he would not have undergone such a radical transformation for a part that was never intended for him.
When Gosling exited the project, Mark Wahlberg was hired at the eleventh hour to replace him. In contrast to Gosling, Wahlberg portrayed Jack Salmon leaner and more athletic, which was in line with Peter Jackson’s plan for the movie.
In spite of the eleventh-hour alteration, The Lovely Bones was released in 2009, with a critical and audience reaction that was split. Some applauded the emotional complexity of the movie, while others thought it didn’t quite get to the extent of Alice Sebold’s best-selling novel.
