Wahlberg Adds New Meat to Jackson's Lovely Bones

It looks like Ryan Gosling will be hitting the treadmill a little sooner than anticipated.

Variety reports that Gosling -- who packed on pounds and put away his razor for his role in the Peter Jackson-directed adaptation of Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones -- exited the production the day before filming began, and has been replaced by Mark Wahlberg. From the article:

Wahlberg has taken the role of Jack Salmon, the grieving father of a young girl. That role was vacated Friday by "Lars and the Real Girl" star Ryan Gosling, who stepped out after gaining 20 pounds and growing a beard for the job. Sources attributed the exit to creative differences.

After reading the script, Wahlberg quickly committed Sunday. He joins Rachel Weisz as a couple whose world is shattered after their daughter is murdered. The girl watches over her family and her killer from heaven. Jackson wrote the script with Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens.

This news is unexpected, to say the least -- it was just two weeks ago that RT's own Fred Topel talked to Gosling about his preparation for the role and his admiration for Peter Jackson.

Shooting is underway in Philadelphia, where Wahlberg recently starred in The Happening for M. Night Shyamalan. After finishing Bones, Wahlberg is set to appear opposite Brad Pitt in Darren Aronofsky's The Fighter -- capping a five-year stretch in which the erstwhile underwear model and Funky Bunch leader will have worked with Aronofsky, Jackson, Shyamalan, and Martin Scorsese. God bless America.

Source: www.cinema-pedia.com

Gosling Fat for Lovely Bones

Ryan Gosling is playing Jack Salmon in Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones, an adaptation of the runaway bestseller by Alice Sebold. To portray the grieving father whose murdered daughter watches from heaven, he has already put on some added paunch.

"This is frustrating because I gained weight for Lars And The Real Girl and then I lost it and then I gained a lot of weight again," said Gosling. "So I could have just kept it the whole time."

Gosling is preparing to shoot in Pennsylvania, though he revealed that he will have a bit of work in New Zealand, where Jackson is literally constructing heaven. "I work a little bit in New Zealand, but mostly I work in Philadelphia."

It is too early for Gosling to figure out his acting method; his commitment to character is always evident on film, but he's still working out the details. "It's hard to describe when you are in it. When I'm out of it I'll be able to decipher what's been happening."

He did, however, share an artistic perspective with Jackson. "He's fearless as a director. He takes on things that you kind of have to be crazy to take on. To do

Lord of the Rings you have to kind of be nuts because there is no way you are going to win. You are always going to have naysayers and people saying you ruined it or whatever. But he's my kind of nuts because he doesn't care and he does it anyway. There are so many units and it takes him years to make it. He doesn't care. And he makes this movie and then he does King Kong. What are you doing? Now he's doing Lovely Bones. People have such reverence for that book, and he's just like, 'I'm going to try that.' So it's exciting to work with somebody like that."

The Lovely Bones will be in theaters 2008. Lars And The Real Girl , starring Gosling about a social introvert who befriends a blow-up doll, opens this Friday in limited release.

Source: www.cinema-pedia.com