Saoirse Ronan Reveals Why Ryan Gosling Was Fired From The Lovely Bones

Before starring in Lady Bird and Little Women, Saoirse Ronan gave a memorable performance in Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones. The movie was originally supposed to star Ryan Gosling, but he was dropped from the cast for a reason Ronan calls “totally valid.”

During a recent appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Ronan recalled working on the 2009 film, which is based on Alice Sebold’s 2002 novel and tells the story of a murdered girl (Ronan), who watches over her grief-stricken family from purgatory.

Along with Ronan, the film adaptation starred Stanley Tucci, Rachel Weisz, and Mark Wahlberg, the latter of whom played the girl’s grieving father. Wahlberg’s role was initially offered to Gosling, who left the project on the first day of filming due to “creative differences” with the director.

“I just loved Ryan. And his dog, George,” said Ronan, who had met the Barbie star in pre-production before his exit. “I was just sad that he wasn’t gonna be around.”

On the podcast interview, she said she held no ill will. “I think the reasons why they parted were totally valid. I have spoken to both [Gosling and Jackson] now. ... It happens, you know what I mean? It’s not personal, necessarily. It’s just sometimes you’re not on the same page.”

Ronan added that getting to work with Wahlberg was a silver lining to Gosling’s departure. “Mark was able to step in, and he was a father,” she continued. “He was a father to, like, I don’t know, three kids? He probably had an experience of that that Ryan felt he didn’t. Ryan was like 27. He was young.”

Gosling has also previously reflected on the film. In a 2010 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he revealed that he’d decided to gain 60 pounds for the role — a move that Jackson didn’t approve of. “We had a different idea of how the character should look. I really believed he should be 210 pounds,” Gosling said. “I just showed up on set, and I had gotten it wrong. ... Then I was fat and unemployed.”

Ronan & Gosling Reunited

While they didn’t end up working together on The Lovely Bones, Ronan and Gosling both starred in 2014’s Lost River, which the latter wrote and directed.

“It was great then to work with him later,” Ronan said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “He’s just, like, the same. He doesn’t change.”