Ryan Gosling: ‘I was fat and unemployed’ after parting with ‘Lovely Bones’

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While mopping up praise for his turn in ‘Blue Valentine,’ Ryan Gosling took time to spill about his previous promising commercial venture -- one that never came to fruition -- as the male lead in Peter Jackson‘s ‘The Lovely Bones.’

Gosling was originally tapped to play the father whose daughter goes missing, abducted by a neighbor, in the 2009 drama based on Alice Sebold‘s bestseller. Gosling exited the film just before cameras rolled, with Mark Wahlberg stepping in and studio Paramount citing ‘creative differences’ with the original actor.

‘It’s the director’s movie, but if you can’t get on board with that vision, then you’re going to secretly be sort of sabotaging it,’ Gosling told the Hollywood Reporter as part of its actors roundtable.

‘I was 150 pounds when [Jackson] hired me, and I showed up on set 210 pounds,’ he said. ‘We had a different idea of how the character should look. I really believed he should be 210 pounds. I was melting Haagen Dazs and drinking it when I was thirsty.’

Not the average Hollywood diet, but it’s still commitment on his part -- albeit character work that ultimately went to waste.

‘I really believed in it. I was excited about it,’ he said. ‘I showed up, and they said, ‘You look terrible.’ And I said, ‘I know! Isn’t it great?’ ‘No, it’s not. Go hit the treadmill’ ... We didn’t talk very much in the preproduction process, which was the problem.’

‘Then I was fat and unemployed.’

Now he’s neither. See Gosling chat up the NC-17 rated ‘Blue Valentine’ with our friends at 24 Frames.

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-- Matt Donnelly
Twitter.com/MattDonnelly