Peter Jackson Fired Ryan Gosling From One Of His Movies For A Ridiculous Reason

The year was 2007. Peter "Lord of the Rings" Jackson was set to direct an adaptation of the bestselling Alice Sebold novel "The Lovely Bones." Saorise Ronan would play Susie, the 14-year-old girl who ends up being murdered by a serial killer named George, played by Stanley Tucci. She dies very early on in the movie and spends the rest of the time looking in on her family from the afterlife as they try to both mourn her loss and find her killer. The novel was incredibly popular, especially among women, so it wasn't a massive surprise when former Mickey Mouse-club heartthrob Ryan Gosling was cast as Susie's father, Jack. Sure, the 26-year-old Gosling was a bit young to play the father of a teenager, but fans of his film "The Notebook" would be sure to turn up for "The Lovely Bones."

Then, one day, Gosling was out, 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 bit of animosity, as reports from the time painted Gosling's leaving as everything from him stepping down to a straight-up firing. So, what really happened?

In a recent appearance on the "Happy Sad Confused" podcast while promoting her film "The Outrun," Ronan shared her feelings on the whole slightly ridiculous ordeal. From her perspective, it sounds a bit less chaotic than we were all led to believe, and it might have all turned out for the better anyway. 

On the podcast, Ronan explained that she felt that Gosling's firing was really just a matter of creative differences. At the time, Jackson was said to be frustrated with Gosling's appearance, as the young actor felt that he needed to put on quite a bit of weight and grow a beard in order to try and look older. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in 2010, Gosling explained that he "really believed he should be 210 pounds." After he showed up on set 60 pounds heavier and sporting a beard, Gosling said that he was "fat and unemployed." For context, that's the same amount of weight that Rob McElhenney put on to become Fat Mac on "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," which at least had some payoff, so Gosling put on all of that weight for ... nothing. Yikes.

Ronan and Gosling hadn't shot anything together yet but had "done some prep," getting to know one another before they filmed. Be that as it may, Ronan didn't feel as if Gosling's firing caused her any problems beyond missing having him around. She told the podcast:

"I think I just loved Ryan. And his dog, George. And I was just sad that, you know, he wasn't gonna be around. But I think the reasons why they parted were totally valid, and I've spoken to both now 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."

Instead of Gosling, Susie's father Jack was played by Wahlberg, who was a more obvious fit for the role. After all, Wahlberg is a whole decade older than Gosling, and at the time of filming "The Lovely Bones," he was already a father to three of his four children.

Replacing Gosling with Wahlberg didn't do much to help "The Lovely Bones," which was critically panned and wasn't exactly loved by audiences either, earning just a 31% Rotten Tomatoes score. In the film's defense, it's a really strange story to try to adapt from the novel because of the afterlife aspect of it all. Not only that, but also Tucci wanted to get out of the film entirely because he felt so uncomfortable in the role of a serial killer. It's a mess of a movie that's disappointing given all of the talent involved, but at least Ronan and Gosling got something of a happy ending, as the two got to work together on Gosling's 2014 directorial debut, "Lost River."

"It was great then to work with him later," Ronan said of Gosling. "And, again, he's just, like, the same. He doesn't change."

The two almost got to work together again almost a decade later, this time on Greta Gerwig's "Barbie," where Gosling stole the show as Ken, but unfortunately things just didn't pan out. Oh well, now that they're both in Gerwig's circle, they're bound to star in something together again at some point, and we're all the better for it.