Ryan Gosling Was Fired From ‘Lovely Bones’ After Gaining 60 Pounds
During a conversation in Cannes Fest after receiving an Honorary Palme d’Or, Jackson was asked about Gosling’s revelation and spoke candidly about the decision to drop him from the movie. Mark Wahlberg was then cast in the role.
“Ryan is a fantastic actor, as we know. Films are a chemistry both on camera and behind the camera. They’re chemistry in terms of what the actor conveys to the audience of the film. It’s just a complicated sort of amalgam of communication of how somebody gels into a group of people, into a story, into a character. It’s complicated and usually you try very hard when you’re planning the film, casting it, trying to get that gel kind of right, but occasionally we make our own mistakes.”
“It was a huge movie, and there’s so many things to deal with, and he couldn’t deal with the actors individually. I just showed up on set, and I had gotten it wrong. Then I was fat and unemployed,” Gosling also quipped.
Saoirse Ronan remembered on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast in 2024 the dramatic casting switch. While Jackson never started shooting The Lovely Bones with Gosling, Ronan revealed the cast had already “done some prep” by the time Gosling got fired. Ronan bonded with Gosling and was sad to see him go.
“I think I just loved Ryan and his dog, George, and I was just sad that he wasn’t gonna be around,” Ronan said. “But I think the reasons why they parted were totally valid, and I’ve spoken to both Gosling and Jackson and it happens. Do you know what I mean? It’s not personal, necessarily. It’s like sometimes you’re just not on the same page.”
“Mark was able to step in, and he was a father,” Ronan added. “He was a father to three kids? He probably had an experience of that Ryan felt he didn’t. Ryan was like 27. He was young.”
