Based on the Nicholas Sparks novel, "The Notebook" is the touching story of two passionate people who are destined to be together. A true romantic tale, "The Notebook" features McAdams as a beautiful Southern debutante - a role far from her Canadian roots. McAdams earned the part after an extensive search by director Nick Cassavetes and actor Ryan Gosling. Cassavetes felt Gosling and McAdams had great chemistry between them. Co-star Gosling explains her appeal saying, "She just constantly delivers. No matter how uncomfortable or challenging circumstances of filming might have gotten, she went toe to toe for every take. She just won over the whole crew with her drive – it was pretty impressive and motivating for all of us."
INTERVIEW WITH RACHEL McADAMS ('Allie'):
Did you and Gena Rowlands talk about the role?
We didn’t. [Her son, director Nick Cassavetes] told me a lot about her. I obviously watched her films and all that sort of stuff, but I think there was sort of… [I was] trying to avoid any stiffness that might come from that. Either we were going to emulate each other or not, and I don’t know if she watched my stuff, but I watched hers, and tried to get a sense of her, and spent time watching her and James [Garner] work together. I did that with Rob Schneider in “The Hot Chick” and that worked for that, but I think for this we didn’t want to put the stress on.
You went to the set to watch them shoot?
Gena and James shoot – yeah. The unfortunate part is the chronology of that is that they started in the middle of the filming process.
Why can’t guys get away with this kind of obsessive behavior in real life?
Because it’s called stalking. My goodness, I don’t know. I think there’s something about that period that makes it – those big, romantic gestures - so much more. The idea of a man reconstructing a house for a woman, nowadays you would never hear about that. But back then, if carpentry was your trade and you were in love with a woman, you combine the two and you come up with this beautiful, romantic gesture. Maybe it is stalking, I don’t know. Maybe it is a bit obsessive.
You and Ryan Gosling share the same birthplace. Did your paths ever cross in Canada?
Never, beyond St. Joseph’s Hospital. I’m a little older than him. I grew up in St. Thomas and I think he grew up in Ontario for a little while, and then moved to the States.
Can you really believe this is all happening?
A lot has happened, I can’t. I’ve had many moving moments. Just yesterday on the plane I asked for a newspaper and saw the big “Notebook” advertisement and then was flipping through and saw this really interesting article about why Canadians play such good villains, that sort of cross-over and why we’ve become such strong villains. They mentioned “Mean Girls” and Colm Feore in “The Chronicles of Riddick” and Bruce Greenwood. I was reading that and I looked up and “The Notebook” trailer came on the plane. It’s almost overwhelming.
Noah climbs up a Ferris wheel to get your attention. What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done to get a guy’s attention?
The craziest thing I’ve ever done to get a guy’s attention? I admit I stalked someone. I showed up at a restaurant where I knew the guy worked, and we were actually good friends and had lost touch, and I pretended that I didn’t know he worked there. And then ran into him and, “Oh my God, you work here? I had no idea.” It’s the most manipulative thing I’ve done in my entire life, but it all worked out very well, so I have no regrets.
Was there anything a man has done for you that you thought was sweet?
The most romantic thing, a lovely boy bought me a dress once. He got my measurements, actually they were from “The Notebook” and I had them sitting somewhere, and he found them and bought me this dress, tailor-made, this beautiful little black cocktail dress. And I thought that was very, very classy.
PAGE 2: Rachel McAdams on the Audition Process and Mean Cheerleaders
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
"The Notebook" Photo Gallery
"The Notebook" Credits, Trailer and Movie News
