10 Actors Who Lost Roles For Insane Reasons
8. Ryan Gosling Gained 60 Pounds Without Telling Anyone - The Lovely Bones
Generally speaking, an actor and director will get on the same page about a character's physical appearance during the early stages of pre-production, but that's basically the exact opposite of what happened on The Lovely Bones.
Ryan Gosling won the role of Jack Salmon - the father of teen protagonist Susie (Saoirse Ronan) - but also had concerns about his age, namely whether, at just 26 years of age, he would be convincing as the father of a 14-year-old.
And so, with director Peter Jackson being difficult to contact during pre-production due to the complexity of the project, Gosling went off on his own accord and gained 60 pounds of weight, primarily by chugging melted Haagen Dazs ice cream.
But when Gosling turned up on set overweight, Jackson immediately fired him. To Gosling's part, he seems to harbour no hard feelings about it, saying, "I had gotten it wrong... Then I was fat and unemployed."
The role of Jack was swiftly recast with Mark Wahlberg, who while not nearly the actor Gosling is was certainly a far more age-appropriate pick.