There are very few roles for which you'd consider Ryan Gosling and Mark Wahlberg interchangeable, the former being the sensitive type and the latter being a tad more brutish. But Whalberg has been chosen to replace Gosling in Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones after Gosling quit a day before filming over "creative differences".
Wahlberg will now play Jack Salmon, the father of a girl (Atonement's Saoirse Ronan) who is murdered and watches from the beyond as her parents struggle to cope with her loss.
Losing Gosling, one of the best young actors around, is a bad thing for any movie, but Wahlberg actually makes a bit more sense in the role. With the role of the mother being played by Rachel Weisz, Gosling's always seemed a little young for the part, whereas Wahlberg matches more obviously.
Wahlberg only committed to the role yesterday, but will be on set today. What a hero!