apropos of nothing

Peter Jackson’s ‘The Lovely Bones’ Plagued by More Hilarious Problems

Photo illustration: Everett Bogue; Photos: iStockphoto (heaven, martini), Getty Images


Peter Jackson set the bar for amusing meticulousness pretty high when he fired Ryan Gosling from The Lovely Bones for being too fat. Now, though, according to Website Flicks.co.nz, production on Bones has been halted, pricelessly, because of a feud between the easygoing filmmaker and his art director over what the movie’s version of heaven should look like. Since the plot centers on a murdered fourteen year old watching over her family from there, it’s sort of shocking that a disagreement this large could surface during post-production (on a $90 million movie, no less), but, presumably, Jackson just found his art director’s finalized conception for the film’s cherubs to be too fat.

But that’s not the only hilarious on-set argument currently making news! Susan Sarandon — evidently upset over the way she was directed to play her character (Susie Salmon’s grandmother) as a chain-smoking alcoholic — gave Bones this ringing endorsement at the Speed Racer premiere on Tuesday:

“I play the comic relief, an alcoholic grandmother — my first grandma — but she doesn’t really seem like a real grandmother because she has a lot of hair and jewelery and nails and liquor. I don’t think I ever talk without a cigarette and a drink in my hand… Peter Jackson is really a nice guy and very interesting. It was really a very different way of working. We had a good time, I’m really curious to see what it’s like because he kept pushing me to be more and more extreme and sometimes that’s when you make your big mistakes so I’m not sure how it will come off — it will be interesting to see it from the point of view of the audience.â€

Yikes! As much as we’re looking forward to Lovely Bones, we think we’re actually more excited to see the making-of featurette on DVD’s bonus disc.

Lovely Bones Hits A Snag [Flicks.co.nz via /Film]
Speed Racer Premiere Report [Empire]

Earlier: So How Is Peter Jackson’s Script for ‘The Lovely Bones’?