More MTV photos, some from EW, and many from HeyYouGuys but more of an excuse to talk about the movie really.
Throughout, here’s many a new shot from Peter Jackson’s “The Lovely Bones.” This top one of Saoirse Ronan is slightly uneventful, but it does highlight the special-effects in the film, which thus far have looked a little too “Delgo” for most people’s taste (or at least ours). We’ll have to judge on the big screen, but that’s a ways away.
An adaptation of Alice Sebold’s celebrated novel, this picture surely seems to have Oscar on its mind and also stars Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci, Mark Wahlberg, and Rachel Weisz. It tells the story of a young girl (Ronan) who is brutally raped and murdered, then watches over the aftermath from a purgatory fantasy world in between heaven and earth (hence the special effects). She’s essentially a ghostly apparition playing detective, as she tries to help her family solve the crime. It’s also set in the 1970s which explains the funny colors and weird hair cuts.
But perhaps more important than all the new photos — you’ve already seen the look of the film in the trailer (that we weren’t entirely sold on, but not opposed to either) is Peter Jackson’s thoughts on Ryan Gosling in the new issue of Entertainment Weekly (again, the fall preview which means all this good stuff is not online; hey better for us).
In 2007, filming started on ‘Bones’ in Pennsylvania and it was Gosling who was hired to play the role of the inconsolably bereaved father. The young actor notoriously put a lot of weight on for the part and grew a massive beard so we would look older. Rumors swirled around that time about Jackson and Gosling butting heads and this is why he was replaced or fired, depending on who’s story you believed. Even Variety said Gosling left the picture because of “creative differences” though they also say he “stepped down.” People forget that it got ugly there for a while and some even reported that the production shut down.
But to hear Peter Jackson put it, there was a lot less drama than reported. After all, next to Rachel Weisz, who was hired to play the mother and 10 years his senior, it wasn’t totally believable that a then-26-year-old Gosling would be the father of this young girl. “We take responsibility for that because we kept saying to Ryan, ‘No, no it’ll be fine.’ when he said he was too young.” Apparently, both parties eventually agreed that no amount of make-up, weight or facial-hair would help him pull this off, so Gosling stepped down and Mark Wahlberg stepped in to replace him.
If you’re a Peter Jackson fan, but aren’t necessarily jazzed about this special-effects laden drama maybe you’re asking: why did he take on this project after “King Kong”? He has an answer for you.
“One of the enjoyments you get from making movies is always being outside your comfort zone — it’s the flirting with danger that’s most interesting. And I feel I was settling into a pattern with these blockbuster-y effects films. It was time to try something different.”
For that sentiment alone we love Jackson. While again, we’re not sure how we feel about what we’ve seen so far trailer wise, we’re hoping, the film has that excellent balance of drama and fantasy he marvelously achieved in 1994’s “Heavenly Creatures,” still our favorite Jackson film. We’ll have to wait some time before we find out, “The Lovely Bones,” is bypassing the film festival circuit and won’t come out in theaters until Oscar season on December 11.
