Peter Jackson Explains Ryan Gosling Weight Gain, Recast in Lovely Bones

Peter Jackson denied having a not-so-lovely reason for firing Ryan Gosling.

The Lord of the Rings director finally revealed why Ryan lost out on the part of Jack, a grieving father, in his 2009 movie The Lovely Bones. The role ultimately went to Mark Wahlberg, who starred in the film alongside Saoirse Ronan and Rachel Weisz.

While Ryan, 45, previously claimed that his 60-pound weight gain led him to be axed from the thriller, Peter gave a little more insight into his thought process.

“I won’t talk about any particular examples of actors because it’s a personal, private thing and it’s not their fault,” the 64-year-old told journalist Didier Allouch at the Cannes Film Festival on May 13, according to Entertainment Weekly. “Anytime we recast an actor, it’s actually our fault because we didn’t get the casting right and we cast the wrong person for a role. It’s not because they did anything wrong.”

He continued, “So, I’m not going to talk about individuals, but you just got to realize that what you were imagining isn’t really quite happening, which means that we got it wrong and so we take full responsibility.”