Peter Jackson Addressed the Legend of Ryan Gosling's Weight Gain for 'The Lovely Bones'

Okay, so if you’ve spent any time reading about film production or casting, you’ve definitely run into the legend of Ryan Gosling and The Lovely Bones.

If not, I'll catch you up to speed.

The story goes like this: back in 2007, a 26-year-old Gosling was cast to play Jack Salmon, the grieving father of Saoirse Ronan’s character in Peter Jackson’s big-budget adaptation of the Alice Sebold novel.

Basically, in the book, his daughter is murdered, and he's haunted by this and works hard to hunt down the man who did it.

When it was time to shoot, Gosling showed up to set 60 pounds heavier after drinking melted Häagen-Dazs ice cream to look the part of a middle-aged dad, only to get fired immediately because he didn't match the director's vision.

Gosling himself famously joked about it to The Hollywood Reporter back in 2010, saying he was simply "fat and unemployed."

For nearly two decades, this anecdote has been a cautionary tale about [pre-production communication] and creative differences. But now, Peter Jackson has finally spoken out about the infamous recasting.

Let's dive in.

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A Legendary Weight Gain

I mean, who wouldn't want to be paid to eat ice cream and lounge around, but for actors, these massive body changes take a huge toll. And it can take a while to get back on track.

But also, as a director, you have a specific vision in your head when you're making a movie, and Gosling was replaced by Wahlberg, who is always in shape and a different kind of Dad.

Now, all this is hearsay, so how did it shake out in real life?

Well, speaking at the Cannes Film Festival after receiving an Honorary Palme d'Or, Peter Jackson broke his silence on the situation.

“Anytime we recast an actor, it’s actually our fault because we didn’t get the casting right and we cast the wrong person for a role,” Jackson said, [via Variety]. “It’s not because they did anything wrong. So, I’m not going to talk about individuals, but you just got to realize that what you were imagining isn’t really quite happening, which means that we got it wrong, and so we take full responsibility.”

This was so nice. And given Gosling's jokes about the situation earlier, I think it's clear they both bear no ill will.

Jackson went out of his way to praise Gosling, calling him a "fantastic actor" before diving into the absolute crapshoot that is cinematic chemistry in casting and shooting.

'The Lovely Bones'Credit: Paramount Pictures

“Films are a chemistry both on camera and behind the camera," Jackson explained. "They’re chemistry in terms of what the actor conveys to the audience of the film. It’s just a complicated sort of amalgam of communication of how somebody gels into a group of people, into a story, into a character. It’s complicated, and usually you try very hard when you’re planning the film, casting it, trying to get that gel kind of right, but occasionally we make our own mistakes.”

Summing It All Up

As filmmakers, it’s easy to look at a situation like this and panic about replacing a lead actor right before the cameras roll. But Jackson's reflection at Cannes offers a great piece of advice: casting is an extension of the script. If the pieces don't fit, you can't force them.

Sometimes, you just have to take the hit, admit you made a mistake, and pivot.

Let us know what you think in the comments.