Peter Jackson fired Ryan Gosling from The Lovely Bones for a ridiculous reason

The year is 2007. Peter “Lord of the Rings” Jackson was set to direct an adaptation of Alice Sebold’s best-selling novel “The Lovely Bones.” Saorise Ronan would play Susie, the 14-year-old girl who is eventually murdered by a serial killer named George, played by Stanley Tucci. She dies very early in the film and spends the rest of the time watching her family from the afterlife as they try to mourn her loss and find her murderer. The novel was incredibly popular, especially among women, so it wasn’t a big surprise when former Mickey Mouse Club heartthrob Ryan Gosling was cast in the role of Susie’s father, Jack. Sure, the 26-year-old Gosling was a little too young to play the father of a teenager, but fans of his film “The Notebook” would certainly check out “The Lovely Bones.”

Then one day, Gosling was out and replaced by Hamburger Man and former New Kid on the Block Mark Wahlberg. It was somewhat shocking when it happened, and it seemed like there was at least a little animosity, as reports at the time described Gosling’s departure as anything from his resignation to an outright firing. So what really happened?

During a recent appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast while promoting her film The Outrun, Ronan shared her feelings about the overall somewhat ridiculous ordeal. From their perspective, it sounds a little less chaotic than we’ve all been led to believe, and things could have turned out for the better anyway.

On the podcast, Ronan explained that she believes Gosling’s firing was actually just a matter of creative differences. At the time, Jackson was said to be frustrated with Gosling’s appearance, as the young actor felt he needed to gain quite a bit of weight and grow a beard to look older. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in 2010, Gosling explained that he “really believed he should weigh 210 pounds.” After showing up on set 30 pounds heavier and with a beard, Gosling said he was “fat and unemployed.” For comparison, that’s the same amount of weight that Rob McElhenney gained to become Fat Mac in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which paid off at least somewhat, so Gosling gained that much weight for … nothing. Yikes.

Ronan and Gosling hadn’t filmed anything together yet, but had “done some preparation” and gotten to know each other before filming. Whatever the case, Ronan didn’t feel like Gosling’s dismissal caused her any problems other than having him around. She told the podcast:

“I think I just loved Ryan. And his dog George. And I was just sad that he wouldn’t be there. But I think the reasons why they broke up were absolutely legitimate and I’ve spoken to them.” Both now and it’s happening. It’s not necessarily personal. It’s like sometimes you’re just not on the same page.

Instead of Gosling, Susie’s father Jack was played by Wahlberg, who was more obviously suited to the role. After all, Wahlberg is a full decade older than Gosling and, at the time of filming “The Lovely Bones,” was already the father of three of his four children.

Replacing Gosling with Wahlberg didn’t do much to improve “The Lovely Bones,” which was panned by critics and not exactly popular with audiences, earning just a 31 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes. In the film’s defense, it’s a really strange story to want to adapt from the novel because of the afterlife aspect. Additionally, Tucci wanted out of the film entirely because he felt so uncomfortable in the role of a serial killer. It’s a mess of a film that’s disappointing given all the talent, but at least Ronan and Gosling had something of a happy ending when the two worked together on Gosling’s 2014 directorial debut, Lost River.

“It was great to work with him later,” Ronan said of Gosling. “And he’s just the same. He doesn’t change.”

Almost a decade later, the two almost worked together again, this time on Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, where Gosling stole the show as Ken, but unfortunately it just didn’t work out. Well, now that they’re both in Gerwig’s circle, they’ll definitely star in something together again at some point, and that makes us even happier.