Saoirse Ronan calls Ryan Gosling’s firing from The Lovely Bones ‘sad’ but ‘totally valid’

Gosling had originally been cast to star opposite Ronan in the 2009 fantasy thriller before he was replaced by Mark Wahlberg

Saoirse Ronan has addressed Ryan Gosling’s firing from the 2009 fantasy thriller, The Lovely Bones, saying that while it was “sad,” the reasons were “totally valid.”

Gosling had initially been cast to star as Jack Salmon, the grieving father of a murdered teenage girl (Ronan), in Peter Jackson’s adaptation of the 2002 novel by Alice Sebold.

However, at the time, it was reported that Gosling was soon let go from the project due to creative differences. He ended up being replaced by Mark Wahlberg.

“I think I just loved Ryan. And his dog, George,” Ronan, who was 14 when she starred in The Lovely Bones, said on a new episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “And I was just sad that, you know, he wasn’t gonna be around.

“But I think the reasons why they parted were totally valid, and I’ve spoken to both now and it happens. Do you know what I mean? It it’s not personal, necessarily. It’s like sometimes you’re just not on the same page.”

The Barbie star has previously spoken about his departure from the movie, explaining that he had gained about 60 pounds for the role because he “believed [the character] should be 210 pounds.”

“We didn’t talk very much during the pre-production process, which was the problem,” Gosling told a 2011 Hollywood Reporter roundtable. “It was a huge movie, and there’s so many things to deal with, and he couldn’t deal with the actors individually. I just showed up on the set, and I had gotten it wrong. Then I was fat and unemployed.”

A 14-year-old Saoirse Ronan played the ghost of a murdered girl in ‘The Lovely Bones’ (Paramount Pictures)

Recalling Wahlberg stepping in, Ronan added: “He was a father. He was a father to, like, I don’t know, three kids? He probably had an experience of that that Ryan felt he didn’t.

“Ryan was like 27. He was young,” she explained. “It was great then to work with him later. He’s just, like, the same. He doesn’t change.”

The two eventually worked together on Gosling’s directorial debut, 2014’s Lost River.

Ryan Gosling was originally cast to star alongside Saoirse Ronan in Peter Jackson’s 2009 fantasy thriller (Getty Images)

Ronan starred in the fantasy thriller, written and co-produced by Gosling, about a single mother raising two boys in a deserted and dangerous city amid a severe economic crisis.

Earlier this week, during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Ronan revealed a major role she lost out on that still haunts her to this day.

The four-time Oscar nominee said “half of Ireland” had arrived to read for the role, which ultimately went to the My Name Is Emily star, Evanna Lynch.

“I had gone up for Luna Lovegood in Harry Potter years ago because it was like the Irish character, so they got everyone Irish in – like half of Ireland to come and audition – and I knew I wasn’t going to get it because I was too young,” Ronan recalled.

“But I got to read out a scene that was gonna be in Harry Potter,” she added. “And it was the coolest thing ever.”