BREAKING: Mark Wahlberg IN, Ryan Gosling OUT Of Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones

Just one day before shooting is set to begin, Mark Wahlberg has stepped in to replace Ryan Gosling (Lars and the Real Girl) in the Peter Jackson-directed adaptation of Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones.

Wahlberg has taken the role of Jack Salmon, the grieving father of a 14-year-old girl from suburban Pennsylvania who is murdered by her neighbor. She tells the story from Heaven, showing the lives of the people around her and how they have changed all while attempting to get someone to find her lost body. Rachel Weisz plays the girl's mother.

According to Variety, Ryan Gosling left on Friday after gaining 20 pounds and growing a beard for the job. Sources have attributed the exit to "creative differences." The movie begins shooting today in Pennsylvania, where Wahlberg most recently finished on M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening for Fox. I'm sure there is a very interesting story behind this last minute move, that will leak out sooner or later.

Wahlberg is also committed to star opposite Brad Pitt in the Darren Aronofsky's The Fighter, which will begin production late 2008.