Stars who landed the job but got the sack before their films even got rolling

Actor Ryan Gosling attends a premiere during the 64th Annual Cannes Film Festival. Photo / Getty

Axed, canned, shown the door...

These are the stars who landed movie roles only to have them taken away.

So why were they fired?

Ryan Gosling - The Lovely Bones

Ryan Gosling attends the Lost River premiere in Cannes, France. Photo / Getty

The dreamy actor was cast as Jack Salmon in Peter Jackson's 2009 movie, The Lovely Bones.

But Gosling was fired after he gained 60lbs by drinking melted Haagen Dazs ice cream before filming began.

"We had a different idea of how the character should look," Gosling said to The Hollywood Reporter, "I really believed he should be 210 pounds (95kg)".

The actor admitted there had been a breakdown in communication between himself and Peter Jackson about the character.

"We didn't talk very much during the pre production process, which was the problem," he said.

"It was a huge movie, and there's so many things to deal with, and he (Peter Jackson) couldn't deal with the actors individually. I just showed up on set, and I had gotten it wrong."

Mark Wahlberg went on to play the character.

Eric Stoltz - Back to the Future

Eric Stoltz looks on in a scene for the Universal Studios movie The Wild Life, circa 1984. Photo / Getty

He was cast as Marty McFly in 1985's Back to the Future, but after just a few weeks of filming he was given the flick and was replaced by Michael J. Fox.

According to a book called We Don't Need Roads: The Making of the Back to the Future Trilogy, Stoltz was fired because he wasn't funny enough.

"I felt for Eric," Christopher Lloyd (who played Dr Emmett Brown) said, according to Vulture.

"He was a really good actor. Although he was doing the part well, he was not bringing that element of comedy to the screen."

Lea Thompson (who played Lorraine Baines) agreed.

"Eric is such a different actor and he could be very difficult," she said in the book.

"Eric had such an intensity. He saw drama in things. He wasn't really a comedian, and they needed a comedian. He's super-funny in real life, but he didn't approach his work like that, and they really needed somebody who had those chops."

In a 2007 interview, Stoltz opened up about his sacking and said it was a blessing in disguise.

"You know, it was 20-something years ago and I rarely look back, if at all; but in retrospect, I think just getting through that difficult period helped me realise how freeing it really was," he said to Movie Hole.

"I went back to acting school, I moved to Europe, I did some plays in New York and I actually invested in myself in a way that was much healthier for me. If I had become a massive star, I don't know if I wouldn't have gone into therapy. On the other hand, I would've been exceedingly rich which would've been wonderful!"

Megan Fox - Transformers 3

Megan Fox arrives at the 70th Annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California. Photo / Getty

The actress was preparing to film Transformers: Dark of the Moon when she was fired by executive producer, Steven Spielberg.

The Hollywood heavyweight was outraged by Fox's comments about director Michael Bay who she compared to Hitler in an interview with Wonderland magazine.

"He's like Napoleon and he wants to create this insane, infamous madman reputation," Fox said about Bay.

"He wants to be like Hitler on his sets, and he is. So he's a nightmare to work for but when you get him away from set, and he's not in director mode, I kind of really enjoy his personality because he's so awkward, so hopelessly awkward. He has no social skills at all. And it's endearing to watch him."

Apparently Bay wasn't too upset about Fox's comments, but Spielberg wasn't so forgiving.

"Steven (Spielberg) said, 'fire her right now'." Bay revealed to GQ.

The actress was replaced in the third Transformers movie by Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.

James Remar - Aliens

James Remar arrives at the 2013 Fall Farewell Dexter in Beverly Hills, California. Photo / Getty

He's best known for playing New York hotel magnate Richard Wright in Sex and the City, but James Remar could have been known for starring in Aliens if he hadn't completely blown it.

The actor revealed in a podcast why he was sacked from the 1986 movie.

"I had a terrible drug problem, but I got through it," he said.

"I had a great career and personal life, and messed it up with a terrible drug habit ... I was initially cast as Corporal Hicks, and I was fired after a couple weeks of filming because I got busted for possession of drugs and Michael Biehn replaced me."

One man's loss is another man's gain, but Remar's replacement wasn't happy about one thing in particular when he was handed the role.

"The one thing I didn't like about it was they made me wear Remar's vest, his chest plate," Biehn said.

"Every actor got to create his own chest plate, and James Remar created his and he painted [it]. Everybody painted theirs, and he painted his with a heart with a lock on it, and the painted heart was right where his heart was, and I thought, 'F**k me, I'm not wearing that - that looks exactly like a target to me!'

"All this camouflaged green, and then, all of a sudden, you'd see this pink blur and think, 'I'm going to shoot at that'. I didn't really appreciate that."

Stuart Townsend - Lord of the Rings

Stuart Townsend during 2004 Toronto International Film Festival. Photo / Getty

The Irish actor was cast as Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings trilogy but was sacked by director Peter Jackson.

"I was there rehearsing and training for two months, then was fired the day before filming began," Townsend said to Entertainment Weekly.

"After that I was told they wouldn't pay me because I was in breach of contract due to not having worked long enough. I had been having a rough time with them, so I was almost relieved to be leaving until they told me I wouldn't be paid.

"I have no good feelings for those people in charge, I really don't. The director wanted me and then apparently thought better of it because he really wanted someone 20 years older than me and completely different."

The role was given to Viggo Mortensen instead.

James Purefoy - V For Vendetta

James Purefoy attends 'Hap And Leonard' Private Premiere Party in New York City. Photo / Getty

You might know the British actor from playing Mark Anthony in Rome or the serial killer Joe Carroll in The Following.

But you definitely wouldn't know him from V For Vendetta because he was fired from the 2005 film.

It's not known why he got the sack, but there are rumours that he was unhappy about having to wear a mask for the whole film and for not having a strong enough voice.

"I don't really talk about it much because we agreed not to," the actor said to comicbookmovie.com about getting fired.

"The only rumour I can scotch is that if anybody thinks I was too pussy to wear a mask, they're completely wrong. It was nothing to do with wearing the mask.

"It was genuine creative differences," Purefoy explained.

"It was genuinely about the way to approach that character, which is what creative differences are all about - and sometimes they become intolerable. Sh*t happens, doesn't it? You can't get too busted up about it."

Hugo Weaving ended up playing V in the movie.