Saoirse Ronan briefly got to work with Ryan Gosling on The Lovely Bones before he was fired due to “creative differences,” with Mark Wahlberg ultimately replacing him as her on-screen dad.
Reflecting on Gosling’s early departure from the project on a recent episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the Oscar-nominated actress admitted she was “sad” but believes that it happened for the best.
“I just loved Ryan. And his dog, George,” Ronan, 30, shared, explaining how they had begun pre-production work together but never filmed before the casting change. “I was just sad that he wasn’t gonna be around. But I think the reasons why they parted were totally valid.”
The Little Women alum, who was just a teenager at the time, added, “It happens. It’s not personal…sometimes you’re just not on the same page.”
She acknowledged that Wahlberg brought his own experience as a real-life father to the role, something Gosling, then 27, may not have related to.
“He was a father to, like, I don’t know, three kids,” she noted of Wahlberg, now 53 and a father of four.
The Lovely Bones, based on Alice Sebold’s novel, featured an all-star cast, including Rachel Weisz and Stanley Tucci, who earned an Oscar nomination for his chilling portrayal in the film.
Ronan later reunited with Gosling in 2014 when he directed her in Lost River.
