Ryan Gosling has undergone dramatic transformations for roles in the past. Heck, he's doing that once again for the Barbie film, in his portrayal of Ken.For his potential role in The Lovely Bones, Gosling had a different vision for his character, and one that required a weight gain. We're not talking a prosthetic suit like Brendon Fraser, we're talking adding real weight by drinking ice cream... literally.In the following, we'll take a look at how Mark Wahlberg landed the role instead, and what took place between Peter Jackson and Ryan Gosling.Turns out, there are two different sides to the story, as Jackson's wife told a completely different version, compared to the one Ryan Gosling shared with THR. Ultimately, Gosling was fired from the role and unemployed, in the worst shape of his life.
Mark Wahlberg Replaced Ryan Gosling As Jack Salmon In The Lovely Bones
In 2009, Peter Jackson released the film, The Lovely Bones. The film was a decent success at the box office, generating $93.6 million, off a $65 million budget. In terms of reviews, they were generally mixed.
Mark Wahlberg was added into the film as Jack Salmon. According to the actor alongside Playlist, the role itself was not easy to portray. Wahlberg revealed he needed to go into a deep, emotional place to really thrive.
“The only thing, again, I was worried about was dealing with the subject matter and having to go to that place, which is also why “Max Payne” was such a great release afterwards, because the other side of me would want to go out and wreak havoc on whoever was responsible, and I got to do that through this film.”
Wahlberg did well in the role but in truth, things could've looked very different. At the start, it was Ryan Gosling in the lead role but according to his own words, things changed when he showed up on-set.
Ryan Gosling Had A Different Vision For His Character In The Lovely Bones
The word behind the scenes was that Gosling wasn't comfortable with the role at the start, struggling with idea of portraying an older character. In addition, Gosling had an entirely different vision to Jackson, one that entailed a major weight gain for his part.
“We had a different idea of how the character should look,” Gosling told The Hollywood Reporter. “I really believed he should be 210 pounds.” Gosling likely took this path, so his character would look older.
Once Gosling arrived on-set, Peter Jackson was not pleased. Gosling blames the ordeal on a lack of communication between the two on the road to the film.
“We didn’t talk very much during the preproduction process, which was the problem,” Gosling said. “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."
He continues, "Then I was fat and unemployed.”
Gosling put his body under lots of stress, which included melting Haagen Dazs ice-cream, and drinking it...
It wasn't meant to be for Gosling, though Jackson's camp tells a different side of the story.
Peter Jackson's Wife Told A Different Side Of The Story
Fran Walsh had a different side of the story, speaking with The Hollywood Reporter. According to Fran's recollection of events, Gosling was uncomfortable with Peter Jackson's project from the start.
“Ryan came to us two or three times and said, ‘I’m not the right person for this role. I’m too young,”‘ she recalled. “And we said, ‘No, no, no. We can age you up. We can thin your hair.’ We were very keen."
During the pre-production phase, things would only get worse and according to Jackson's wife, they stopped trying to cater towards Gosling, in order to get the film done.
“It wasn’t until we were in preproduction and we had the cast there that it became increasingly clear: He was so uncomfortable moving forward, and we began to feel he was not right. It was our blindness, the desire to make it work no matter what.”
The film turned out to be just fine, but you can't help but to feel sorry for Gosling and his weight gain for the film. Who knows what it would've looked like with Gosling in the spot of Jack Salmon.