“They looked at me like I was out of my mind”: The Notebook Director Reveals Studio Hesitated to Replace Tom Cruise With Ryan Gosling Alongside Britney Spears Initial Choice to Play Lead Role
Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams became one of the most iconic couples on screen after their role in The Notebook. The movie quickly became one of the best romantic movies of the year when it first came out in 2004. It might seem even impossible now to imagine anyone else in the role of Noah instead of Gosling. However, last year it was revealed that the cast was almost decided a whole lot different from how we know it. According to sources, Tom Cruise came very close to playing the role of Noah instead of Ryan Gosling.
The Princess of Pop, Britney Spears was also set to appear in the movie instead of Rachel McAdams.
Nick Cassavetes pushed for Ryan Gosling over Tom Cruise as he took over the film
The New Line grabbed the rights to the novel, The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks back in 1996. Initially, Steven Spielberg was interested in directing the movie and he picked Tom Cruise as Noah in the lead role. However, there was some problem with the scheduling and the project was left unattended for years until Nick Cassavetes came along. As soon as he came along, Cassavetes pushed for Ryan Gosling over Cruise.
Cassavetes talked about his directing role for The Notebook in an interview with VH1 earlier this year. He said, “When I told New Line Cinema I wanted to hire Ryan for the lead, they kind of looked at me like I was out of my mind.” It is without a doubt one of the best casting decisions made by him in his career.
Rachel McAdams was cast after an audition
In 2004, Rachel McAdams had not starred in Wedding Crashers or Mean Girls yet. Cassavetes revealed that they found McAdams through an audition and said, “she was wonderful.” Before McAdams was cast as Allie, Britney Spears was the lead contender for the role. In the early 2000s, Britney Spears was a growing sensation and a very big name in the industry. Though she did not have much acting experience beforehand, her popularity would have been enough to carry the movie.
Putting two unknown stars together was a gamble but it worked out big time. Cassavetes said,
“A lot of studios wouldn’t have had the courage to put two relatively unknown people in a movie like this. But they did and, gosh, weren’t they terrific.“
Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams had some tension when they first started working together. However, they handled it well and their on-screen chemistry went off-screen as well as the duo dated from 2005 to 2007. The movie too became a hit and grossed over $115 million when it first came out in 2004.
Source: VH1
