Gosling Says He Was Fired from 'The Lovely Bones' for Being Too Fat
Actor gained 60 pounds only to be sacked before cameras began rolling
Dec. 4, 2010— -- Ryan Gosling has revealed why audiences didn't see him in last year's adaptation of the blockbuster novel "The Lovely Bones:" He was too fat.
The typically slender Canadian actor, who is currently promoting his buzzed about new film "Blue Valentine," told The Hollywood Reporter during an actor's roundtable that he guzzled ice cream to bloat up for the role in Peter Jackson's take on Alice Sebold's bestseller.
"I was 150 pounds when [Jackson] hired me, and I showed up on set 210 pounds," Gosling said. "We had a different idea of how the character should look. I really believed he should be 210 pounds. I was melting Haagen Dazs and drinking it when I was thirsty."
The actor blames lack of communication with the Jackson for the mix up that led to his risky character work going to waste.
"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.
"I really believed in it. I was excited about it. I showed up, and they said, 'You look terrible.' And I said, 'I know! Isn't it great?' 'No, it's not. Go hit the treadmill.'
"Then I was fat and unemployed."
Gosling exited the film before production began, with Paramount, the studio behind the film, citing "creative differences" with the actor. Mark Wahlberg eventually stepped into the role of grieving father Jack Salmon.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter last year, Jackson's wife and collaborator on "The Lovely Bones" Fran Walsh told a different story about their communication with Gosling leading up to the shoot.
"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.
"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."
