On Monday, Variety reported that Ryan Gosling left Peter Jackson’s “Lovely Bones” project because of “creative differences,” just one day before shooting was scheduled to begin, right?
Well, Gosling – who was swiftly replaced with Mark Wahlberg – and Gosling apparently had lots of other differences.
According to the Los Angeles Times, sources said Jackson was surprised to see that Gosling has traded his marquee good looks to gain 20 lbs of weight or as the Times specifically says, looking like Gosling has arrrived to set wearing a “fat suit” and missing “movie star allure.”
L.A. Times: Gosling had apparently told the director he was going to gain weight to age himself up to play the part of a grieving father, but Jackson was still expecting some movie star allure — not paunch and a beard.
According to the New York Post’s Page Six, matters were much worse than Gosling’s newfound pounds and pudginess; apparently Gosling was fussy and difficult and rubbed the once-obsese New Zealand director the wrong way.
“Peter couldn’t stand Ryan,” said one source. Though Variety reported that Gosling had “stepped down” and was replaced by Mark Wahlberg, our source said, “Ryan cut his own hair, and was fighting with wardrobe. He was so demanding . . . Peter booted him two days before filming started.”
So Variety said Gosling had “stepped down,” but Page Six says he was shit-canned. Ah, method actors, they can be a squirrely, self-important bunch, no?
Deadline Hollywood says, don’t believe the hype about any litigation claims about the fiasco.
“Ryan and Peter both believed that if he put on a little weight, and perhaps added a beard, that it would age him up. In the end, Ryan felt he couldn’t make the age leap in a way he felt good about.”
And they echoed the “Gosling is difficult” sentiments.
Jackson “had a very hard time” with Gosling and was “irked” by his behavior. “Jackson didn’t want to work with him after spending time with him in Pittsburgh,” the insider says, “And the thought was that Ryan went overboard with the weight gain.”
But we heart Gosling, so we hope some of these claims have been exaggerated. Time will likely tell, either way, he is one of the most remarkable actors of the last five years.
Also interesting to note is Gosling mutli-culti indie-rock group Dead Man’s Bones (who were curiously absent in the tenuous 2+2=5 “world beat is the new indie-rock black” NY Times music piece). According to the GQ cover story on Gosling on shelves now, his publicist is more concerned with how his band is portrayed (they’re currently negotiating a record deal) than the actors’ comments on his former paramour Rachel McAdams.