It’s one of the most beloved romantic dramas among fans of the genre, and yet the stars of the film didn’t get along at all on set. Ironically, they ended up falling in love!
Nick Cassavetes’ cult romantic drama Never Forget – or The Notebook for fans of the original version –, adapted from the novel The Pages of our love by Nicholas Sparks, will celebrate its 20th anniversary this year. Having marked an entire generation, the feature film remains, two decades later, still appreciated by fans of the genre who made it one of the most profitable romantic films in the history of cinema.
The passionate, tumultuous and tragic love story of Noah (Ryan Gosling) and Allie (Rachel McAdams) touched a large audience who fell madly in love with the protagonists – the charisma of the actors and their on-screen chemistry being there. a lot. And yet, during filming, the two stars did not get along at all!
In Never forget we follow the story of a couple through the ages. Suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, Allie lives in a retirement home. Every day, Noah reads him the same book. This is the notebook where Allie wrote her own story when she learned of her illness so as not to forget her feelings. Noah tirelessly reads his own words back to him…
In 2014, Nick Cassavetes indeed surprised the whole world with the revelation of this love-hate story between the two stars of the film, Ryan Gosling And Rachel McAdamsduring an interview with VH1: “I’m not supposed to tell this story, but they didn’t get along at all on set! Truly not.”
The situation is so difficult that intervention from the director was necessary.
New Line Cinema
Ryan Gosling tries to get rid of his partner
As revealed Nick Cassavetesthings were so tense that Ryan Gosling even ended up asking that Rachel McAdams be replaced!
“Ryan came up to me, there were 150 people on stage, and said, ‘Nick, come here!’ He was filming a scene with Rachel and he asked me, ‘Could you take her out of here and bring another actress to read off camera, facing me?’ I said what ?’ He replied: ‘I can’t. I can’t do it with her. I can’t get anything out of it.’”
The choice of Rachel McAdams for the role was complex, with several actresses having been considered to play Young Allie. Thus, Jessica Biel, Ashley Judd, Reese Witherspoon and even Britney Spears – who was last in line against Rachel McAdams – could all have played against Ryan Gosling but the latter was the final choice of the filmmaker who, faced with this problematic situation, opted for a little therapy.
In an attempt to improve the relationship between the two performers, Nick Cassavetes indeed forced the two actors to talk to each other: “We isolated ourselves in a room with a producer; They started shouting and then yelling at each other. I left the room. I smoked a cigarette and they all came out saying, ‘Okay, let’s do it!’”.
From hate to love
After this successful intervention, filming was able to resume calmly. And curiously, Rachel McAdams And Ryan Gosling started a love affair in 2005.
“God bless Never forget“, said Ryan Gosling in an interview with GQ in 2007. “It introduced me to one of the great loves of my life. But people are doing Rachel and me a disservice by assuming we look like the characters in this movie. Rachel and my love story are much more romantic than that.”
“We weren’t throwing Ming vases at each other, so it wasn’t hatred, but our relationship wasn’t what you saw on screen. I would say we were both professionals“, Told Rachel McAdams to the British newspaper The Times in 2013, about their relationship on set.
New Line Cinema
“[Notre relation ultérieure] was definitely not something any of us expected after this cinematic experience. Which goes to show that you can create on-screen chemistry just by telling the audience that these two people love each other. And, unless your actors are doing a really terrible job, I think people will want to see this. As an actor, you don’t have to feel it. You don’t have to feel anything. You just have to imagine it”, she added in an interview with The Independent the same year.
If the two actors left for good in 2008, Allie and Noah are more eternal than ever.
Take out your tissues, Never forget is to be rediscovered on VOD.
Also check out what it looks like when Ryan Reynolds parodies Ryan Gosling below: