10 Actors Whose Movie Character Requests Got Rejected

5. Ryan Gosling Wanted To Play The Role Overweight - The Lovely Bones

The Batman Penguin
MGM

Though you might recall that Mark Wahlberg ended up playing protagonist Susie Salmon's (Saoirse Ronan) father in The Lovely Bones, Ryan Gosling was actually originally cast in the part.

Gosling, who was just 26 years of age while preparing for the role, had major concerns about being too young to convincingly play Saoirse Ronan's father, and so undertook a comprehensive transformation to physically weather himself.

Gosling gained an astonishing 60 pounds of mass by drinking microwaved ice cream, and also grew a thick, dishevelled beard.

Unfortunately Gosling did all this without consulting director Peter Jackson, and so when he saw what Gosling had done shortly before shooting was due to start, Jackson swiftly fired him and drafted Wahlberg in as a replacement. Gosling said of the conflict:

"We didn't talk very much during the preproduction process, which was the problem... 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. Then I was fat and unemployed."
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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.