Can you ideate Tom Cruise as Noah? Well, it astir happened.

After the rights to the caller were snagged by New Line successful 1996, Steven Spielberg expressed involvement successful directing the movie. And his prime for the pb role was the Top Gun star. Alas, scheduling conflicts got successful the way, arsenic they are wont to do, and the task was near for years earlier manager Nick Cassavetes came along. While Cassavetes instantly knew helium wanted Ryan Gosling as his star, the workplace needed immoderate convincing. 

"When I told [New Line Cinema] I wanted to prosecute Ryan for the lead," Cassavetes revealed to VH1, "they benignant of looked astatine maine similar I was retired of my mind."

Gosling was a small surprised, too, particularly aft his archetypal gathering with the director. "Nick Cassavetes called maine to conscionable him astatine his house. When I got there, helium was lasting successful his backyard," he told British magazine Company, "and helium looked astatine maine and said, 'I privation you to play this relation due to the fact that you're not similar the different young actors retired determination successful Hollywood. You're not handsome, you're not cool, you're conscionable a regular feline who looks a spot nuts.'"

Rachel McAdams, who had not yet starred successful Mean Girls or Wedding Crashers, was comparatively chartless and had to audition hard to get the relation of Allie. "We recovered Rachel done an audition process and she was wonderful," Cassavetes explained. "A batch of studios wouldn't person had the courageousness to enactment 2 comparatively chartless radical successful a movie similar this. But they did and, gosh, weren't they terrific?"

However, before McAdams landed the relation of Allie, 1 of Gosling's erstwhile co-stars was really considered for the part: Britney Spears, his Mickey Mouse Club pal and 1 of the biggest stars successful the world. 

"I hadn't seen her truly since she was astir 12—we were some 12—so she's grown up, but she was truly good, actually," Gosling recalled of their chemistry test. "She did a truly bully job. We were 12, I don't retrieve overmuch from erstwhile I was 12, but she did an fantabulous job, actually. That was cool."

McAdams didn't adjacent find retired astir the "Toxic" vocalist being up for the relation until aft filming ended. "I'm definite it would person been a wholly antithetic movie," the histrion said. "I was precise fortunate. I was benignant of astatine the extremity of the line, and I cognize they'd benignant of done a cross-country trip—Nick and Ryan together—looking for the girl, and I benignant of squeaked successful there."

Another large sanction who besides auditioned for Allie was Jessica Biel, who revealed to Elle that she "wanted truthful badly" to beryllium cast.

"I was successful the mediate of shooting Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and I auditioned with Ryan Gosling successful my trailer—covered successful blood," she recalled. "Nick Cassavetes enactment maine done the wringer successful an interesting, excitingly originative way. But there's a cardinal that get away. We're gluttons for punishment. It's conscionable rejection."

While they went connected to day and go 1 of Hollywood's astir beloved couples, Gosling and Adams didn't initially get along, according to Cassavetes. And it was truthful atrocious that astatine 1 constituent Gosling tried to get McAdams replaced. 

"Maybe I'm not expected to archer this story, but they were truly not getting on 1 time connected set." Cassavetes told VH1. "And Ryan came to me, and there's 150 radical lasting successful this large scene, and helium says, 'Nick travel here.' And he's doing a country with Rachel and helium says, 'Would you instrumentality her retired of present and bring successful different histrion to work disconnected camera with me?' I said, 'What?' He says, 'I can't. I can't bash it with her. I'm conscionable not getting thing from this.'"

So however was it fixed? He fto his stars hash their s--t out. "We went into a country with a producer; they started screaming and yelling astatine each other. I walked out. At that constituent I was smoking cigarettes. I smoked a cigaret and everybody came retired like, 'All close let's bash this.' And it got amended aft that, you know?" Cassavetes explained. "They had it out…I deliberation Ryan respected her for lasting up for her quality and Rachel was blessed to get that retired successful the open. The remainder of the movie wasn't creaseless sailing, but it was smoother sailing."

Even McAdams was amazed that they yet ended up dating aboriginal on...

"We weren't throwing Ming vases astatine each other, truthful it wasn't loathing," McAdams said successful 2013 of the pair's on-set relationship, "but our narration was not what you saw connected the screen. I would accidental that we were both, well, professional."

Of course, fans started shipping Gosling and McAdams conscionable arsenic overmuch arsenic they did Noah and Allie. Who could hide their infamous on-stage marque out while accepting the grant for Best Kiss astatine the 2005 MTV Movie Awards? 

"I don't cognize what happened," Gosling aboriginal admitted of however they went from cordial co-workers to boyfriend and girlfriend. "Two years later, I saw her successful New York and we started getting the thought that possibly we were incorrect astir each other."

Gosling and McAdams went on to day for 3 years, earlier breaking up for bully successful 2009. And portion neither prima ever officially discussed their split, Gosling did unfastened up astir their epic romance.

"God bless The Notebook," helium told GQ. "It introduced maine to 1 of the large loves of my life. But radical bash Rachel and maine a disservice by assuming we were thing similar the radical successful that movie. Rachel and my emotion communicative is simply a hellhole of a batch much romanticist than that."

You cognize that moment erstwhile Noah asks Allie, "What bash you want? What bash you want?" Gosling improvised the line, Cassavetes revealed, adding helium instantly knew it was going to extremity up successful the movie. 

"It became 1 of the astir iconic things from the movie [that] wasn't successful the script. He conscionable knew it," Cassavetes said. "I'm a literate guy, I was a lit large successful assemblage and I similar words, but I besides similar improvisation, [so] that's fine. But helium was truthful connected it. We conscionable fto him go."

Throughout the film, Gosling covered his babe blues and wore brownish interaction lenses because James Garner, the celebrated histrion who played the older Noah, had brownish eyes. While Gosling was precise funny successful continuity, Garner, who passed distant conscionable 1 period aft the film's merchandise successful July 2004, truly didn't care. According to Cassavetes, Gosling approached the older thespiam astir accents arsenic well, starring to a hilariously awkward conversation. 

"[Ryan] says, 'I was reasoning astir accents. There's each kinds of South Carolina accents—one's much rural' and this and that. [Garner] goes, 'I don't bash accents, kid. They're stupid,'" Cassavetes said, "And [Ryan] goes, 'OK. What astir oculus color? I person bluish eyes. You person brownish eyes.' He says, 'Everyone knows Jim Garner's got brownish eyes. Do what you want, kid.' [Ryan] says, 'OK, I conjecture I'll deterioration contacts. What astir hair?' And helium says, 'Do immoderate you want, kid. Nice to conscionable you. See you later.' Ryan looked astatine maine and said, 'Shut up, don't adjacent accidental a word.' So that's conscionable an illustration of 2 highly antithetic types of acting styles. Both are wildly successful."

Another illustration of Gosling's method acting going a small excessively acold was his proposition that they pain down Noah's location arsenic a metaphor for his feelings. "He'd travel to maine and say, 'Why can't I pain the location down?'" Cassavetes revealed, "I'd say, 'Because I don't adjacent cognize what that means.' And he'd say, 'Cleansing my fire!'" Gosling's thought didn't marque the last cut, and the gorgeous location is inactive lasting successful Wadmalaw Island, South Carolina.

Cassavetes didn't person to formed a wide nett erstwhile it came to uncovering the close prima to play the older mentation of Allie: Legendary histrion Gena Rowlands happens to beryllium his mother, and his begetter is the precocious manager John Cassavetes, who really benignant of appears successful the film. Photos shown of Allie and Noah done the years are really the idiosyncratic photographs of Rowlands and her hubby with Garner's look photo-shopped in.

"I person ne'er heard a manager say, 'Action, Mom' before," producer Mark Johnson recalled. "She treated him similar her director, but arsenic nonrecreational arsenic helium was, we were precise overmuch alert she was his mother." 

Rowlands admitted to Variety successful 2016 that she was amazed by the film's enduring success. "I didn't deliberation it would person that benignant of impact," she said. "I deliberation it was specified a large deed due to the fact that it was astir the realization that emotion tin past your full life. You don't spot it depicted that mode a lot. In astir films you don't get to spot a communicative similar that spell from the opening to the extremity with the anticipation that emotion tin beryllium possibly eternal."

Gosling, who was conscionable 23 erstwhile the movie was made, actually moved to Charleston 2 months earlier filming, during which helium rowed the Ashley River and made furniture, adjacent apprenticing with a cabinet-maker successful town. "We made each the Adirondack chairs successful beforehand of the house," Gosling told People. "We sat successful them a lot."

Oh, and that eating country array successful the location Noah builds Allie? "We changeable a country wherever Rachel and I consummate our narration connected a array I made," Gosling revealed. "But I couldn't support it. We utilized a peculiar wood, and the woody was [the cabinetmaker] got the table. But helium doesn't cognize what happened connected it."

McAdams besides spent clip months surviving in South Carolina anterior to filming, taking dialect lessons to nail her Southern accent and immersing herself successful the culture. "[Cassavetes] had maine instrumentality ballet and etiquette classes," she admitted. "And I went to a fewer weddings and talked to immoderate debutantes."

The manager besides wanted her to up her workout regime. "I'd ne'er trained similar that. I was adjacent taking macromolecule powder," McAdams said. "It got to the constituent wherever I turned to my trainer, pointed to my bicep, and said, 'This doesn't look 1940s anymore, it's gone adjacent beyond pin-up girl.' So we had to code it down."

Arguably 1 of the astir memorable scenes successful the movie astir didn't marque it into the last cut, arsenic Cassevetes revealed the workplace didn't deliberation they'd beryllium capable to movie Noah and Allie's vessel thrust with each of the birds surrounding.

 "They were like, 'You can't bash the birds. There's conscionable excessively much—you've got to instrumentality the birds out,'" helium explained. "They said, 'It conscionable doesn't work. We talked to each carnal wrangler—you can't bash it. The birds aren't trained. You've got to instrumentality it out.'"

But Cassavetes fought for the scene, truthful overmuch truthful that helium really raised birds connected the acceptable to usage erstwhile it came clip to movie the scene. "We went down and bought a trailer similar the backmost of 1 of those semis, talked to immoderate of the carnal radical down determination and bought a clump of hatchlings and conscionable raised them arsenic chicks and marched them retired to the water each time and fed them retired there," helium shared. "By the clip the movie was shooting, they were benignant of grown, but they had been fed retired determination each day. So, erstwhile the workplace came down to spot the scene—because they didn't judge we could bash it—the feline marched them retired determination similar the Pied Piper and they went retired connected the lake. We were blessed to bash that connected a method level due to the fact that the birds are truthful beautiful."

While Noah and Allie's passionate buss successful the rainfall is considered 1 of the champion onscreen embraces successful movie history, it wasn't precisely a amusive acquisition for the stars. "We conscionable wanted to get retired of the rain. It was precise cold," McAdams revealed to Life & Style. "That formal was made for the film, but a batch of the worldly I wore was rented and was really from the 1940s. So overmuch of it was falling apart."

In fact, Allie ended up barefoot successful the country due to the fact that the shoes McAdams was wearing really disintegrated.

While the intimate infinitesimal betwixt Noah and Allie shown successful the movie was beauteous steamy, it actually had to beryllium toned down up of The Notebook's merchandise to people a PG-13 rating. "I don't privation children seeing things they shouldn't beryllium seeing," Cassavetes told Christian Answers. "I wanted the excitement of the sexuality betwixt them, but certainly, we don't bash soiled stuff."

He went connected to telephone himself "a prude," adding, "I'm modest. I don't judge successful exposing people's backstage parts. It's not adjacent truthful overmuch a motivation happening for me, arsenic I get embarrassed. That's the mode I am. But the complication is that sexuality is not the totality betwixt antheral and woman, but it's surely a large portion of it. And you person to amusement it. There's a carnality that's involved."

Maybe helium was a small bitter due to the fact that his character Lon Hammond Jr. didn't extremity up getting the girl, but James Marsden once admitted to Out magazine that helium didn't deliberation the movie was going to be a hit.

"I ne'er acceptable retired to marque a atrocious movie," helium said. "Some movies conscionable crook retired bad, and I privation to scream, 'Why did you prime that take?!' There are immoderate movies that I've been successful that I was definite radical would laughter at, that person go huge. I thought The Notebook was going to beryllium a schmaltzy Movie of the Week–type thing, and present we are!"