Saoirse Ronan Says Firing Ryan Gosling From 'The Lovely Bones' Was 'Sad' But 'Valid' After 60-Pound Weight Gain
Years after the release of the film, 'The Lovely Bones,' actress Saoirse Ronan recalled the dramatic switching of actors due to Ryan Gosling's 60-pound weight gain.
The Hollywood actress appeared as a guest on 'Happy, Sad, Confused' podcast, where she detailed the jarring replacement of Gosling in favor of Mark Wahlberg just days before filming, due to Gosling's decision to gain weight for the role.
Director Peter Jackson never began to film with Gosling, but Ronan revealed that the actor did in fact begin to prepare, saying the cast had done "some prep" before he was booted from the team.
"I think I just loved Ryan and his dog, George, and I was just sad that, you know, he wasn't gonna be around," Ronan, 30, stated — expressing that she'd already bonded with the actor by that time.
"But I think the reasons why they parted were totally valid, and I've spoken to both [Gosling and Jackson] now and it happens. Do you know what I mean?" she explained, per 'Variety.' "It's not personal, necessarily. It's like sometimes you're just not on the same page."
Ronan also provided an additional perspective to the matter, considering the actor's life at that time, and how the switch may have affected the film overall.
"Mark was able to step in, and he was a father," Ronan added per the media outlet. "He was a father too, like...I don't know — three kids? He probably had an experience of that that Ryan felt he didn't. Ryan was like, 27. He was young."
It seems Gosling was honest as to why the two had stopped working on the film, as he told 'The Hollywood Reporter' that it was the weight gain that in fact halted his participation in the production.
"We had a different idea of how the character should look. I really believed he should be 210 pounds," Gosling said to the Hollywood hub back in 2010. "We didn't talk very much during the pre-production process, which was the problem."
"It was a huge movie, and there's so many things to deal with, and he couldn't deal with the actors individually," Gosling detailed of the miscommunication. "I just showed up on set, and I had gotten it wrong. Then I was fat and unemployed."
'The Lovely Bones' — which was both a book and a movie — went on to earn a plethora of accolades, including SAG, Academy, and Golden Globe awards.
However, it's clear critics were on the fence about the fantasy/thriller, as it went on to receive a mere 31% on Rotten Tomatoes.
