The Notebook is a 2004 American romantic drama film directed by Nick Cassavetes, written by Jeremy Leven and Jan Sardi, based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Nicholas Sparks. The film stars Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams as a young couple who fall in love in the 1940s. Their story is read from a notebook in the present day by an elderly man (played by James Garner), telling the tale to a fellow nursing home resident (played by Gena Rowlands, who is the director Cassavetes's mother).
Plot[]
At a modern-day nursing home, an elderly man, Duke, reads a romantic story from his notebook to a fellow patient.
In 1940, at a carnival in Seabrook Island, South Carolina, poor lumber mill worker Noah Calhoun sees 17-year-old heiress Allison "Allie" Hamilton, who is spending the summer in town with her parents. He pursues her, and they begin a summer romance. One evening, he takes her to the abandoned Windsor Plantation that he intends to buy and restore for them. While there, they attempt to have sex for the first time, in spite of Allie being nervous and rambling. They are soon interrupted by Noah's friend Fin with the news that Allie's parents have the police looking for her.
When Allie and Noah return to her parents' mansion, it is revealed that due to their difference in social class, Allie's parents, particularly her mother Anne, do not approve of the relationship and forbid her from seeing him. Overhearing Allie's mother's insults, which include going as far as to call him trash, Noah walks out and Allie chases after him. After revealing to Allie that he does not think their relationship will work, an argument ensues, leading Allie to break up with Noah in the heat of the moment as he leaves, though she quickly regrets it. The next morning, Anne announces that the family is returning home to Charleston that same day. Allie attempts to find Noah at the lumber mill, but he is out delivering a load, so she asks Fin to tell Noah that she loves him. When Noah receives the message, he rushes to Allie's home, only to find the house gated up and empty.
Noah writes a letter to Allie every day for a year, but it is later revealed that Allie's mother had been intercepting the letters so that they never reach Allie. After 365 letters, Noah gives up and stops writing. While apart, Noah enlists with Fin to fight in World War II, where Fin is killed in battle. Meanwhile, Allie attends college and also volunteers as a nurse's aide in a hospital for wounded soldiers, where she meets Captain Lon Hammond Jr., a young lawyer who comes from old Southern money. After a few years of being together, the two become engaged, to the delight of Allie's parents.
When Noah returns from the war, his father, who eventually dies, reveals that he has sold their home so that Noah can buy the Windsor Plantation. While visiting Charleston to get his building plans approved, Noah glimpses Allie from a bus, abruptly pulls the door open, jumps off the bus and chases after her, only to witness Allie and Lon kissing at a restaurant. It is then that he convinces himself that if he restores the house, Allie will come back to him. While Allie is being fitted for her wedding dress, she is startled and faints when she sees in the newspaper that Noah has completed the house to the specifications she made years before, and is trying to sell it.
Allie is overwhelmed with memories and unresolved feelings for Noah, and asks permission from Lon to take a trip before the wedding. She returns to Seabrook to find Noah living in their dream house. The two rekindle their relationship and eventually consummate it. Several days later, Anne appears on Noah's doorstep to warn Allie that Lon has followed her to Seabrook. Anne reveals that in her youth, she had been in love with a lower-class young man and still thinks about him, but that she truly loves Allie’s father. Anne then gives Allie the letters that Noah wrote to her as an admission that she had hidden them from Allie, hoping that she makes the right choice. After an argument with Noah over whether she will stay with him or return to Lon, Allie drives back to her hotel and confesses to Lon her infidelity with Noah and her conflicting emotions about who she should be with. Despite Lon saying that he still loves her in spite of everything, Allie decides to return to Noah.
In the present narrative, it is revealed that the elderly woman is actually Allie now stricken with dementia and Duke is actually her husband Noah. Years ago during the early stages of her illness, Allie wrote a journal detailing their romance and life together, and instructed Noah to read the story to her in order to help her recall her past. One day during the reading sessions, she briefly remembers Noah, who reminds her of her dementia. She asks how long they have before she forgets again, and Noah tells her that the last time it happened, it was no more than five minutes.
They decide to spend this short time together dancing, but Allie soon forgets who Noah is again and in her ensuing panic, medical personnel are forced to sedate her. After witnessing this scene, Noah suffers a heart attack and is sent to the hospital, while Allie is sent to a dementia ward in the same hospital. Upon recovering and despite not being allowed in, Noah visits Allie's room in the night, causing her to remember him again. He proceeds to remind her of her illness again, though he reassures her that they can do anything with the love they share. They kiss, hold hands, and fall asleep together, with Noah telling Allie, "I'll be seeing you." In the morning, a nurse discovers that they have both died in their sleep, with their hands still clasped together.
Cast[]
- Ryan Gosling as Noah Calhoun
- Rachel McAdams as Allison "Allie" Hamilton
- James Garner as Old Noah Calhoun / "Duke"
- Gena Rowlands as Old Allie Calhoun (née Hamilton)
- Joan Allen as Anne Hamilton
- James Marsden as Lon Hammond, Jr.
- Jamie Brown as Martha Shaw
- Sam Shepard as Frank Calhoun
- David Thornton as John Hamilton
- Kevin Connolly as Fin
- Heather Wahlquist as Sara Tuffington
- Ed Grady as Harry
- Obba Babatunde as Bandleader
- Mark Johnson as Photographer
Soundtrack[]
- Main article: The Notebook (2004 soundtrack)
Production[]
The film rights to Nicholas Sparks's novel were acquired by New Line Cinema in 1996, represented by producer Mark Johnson.[1] Jeremy Leven was hired to write the script, which caught the attention of director Steven Spielberg in 1998,[2] who wished to film it with Tom Cruise as Noah Calhoun.[3] Spielberg's commitment to other projects led to Jim Sheridan becoming attached to direct the following year. Filming was to start in 1999 but pushed back over rewrites.[4] Sheridan eventually backed out by October 2000 to work on In America.[5] Martin Campbell entered negotiations to direct in March 2001,[3] before he was replaced by Nick Cassavetes a year later.[6]
Casting[]
Cassavetes wanted someone unknown and "not handsome" to portray Noah; he therefore cast Ryan Gosling in the role.[7] Gosling was initially surprised by this: "I read [the script] and I thought, 'He's crazy. I couldn't be more wrong for this movie.'"[8] "It gave me an opportunity to play a character over a period of time – from 1940 to 1946 – that was quite profound and formative."[9] To prepare for the part, Gosling temporarily moved to Charleston, South Carolina prior to filming. During two months, he rowed the Ashley River and made furniture.[10] A nationwide search was conducted to find the right actress to play Allie. Actresses who auditioned for the role included Jessica Biel,[11] Britney Spears,[12] Ashley Judd, and Reese Witherspoon,[13] and Rachel McAdams was ultimately cast.[9] On casting her, Cassavetes said: "When Rachel McAdams came in and read, it was apparent that she was the one. She and Ryan had great chemistry between them." She commented: "I thought it would be a dream to be able to do it. I read the script and went into the audition just two days later. It was a good way to do it, because I was very full of the story."[14] Gosling commented that, "I think that it's pretty fair to say that we probably wouldn't have made the film if we hadn't found Rachel... Really, Allie drives the movie. It's her movie and we're in it. It all kind of depended on an actress."[15] In comparison to the book, the role was extended.[16] McAdams spent time in Charleston before filming to familiarize herself with the surroundings,[17] and took ballet and etiquette classes.[18] She had a dialect coach to learn the Southern accent.[19]
Filming[]
The Notebook was filmed mostly on location in South Carolina, in late 2002 and early 2003, as well as the wintery battlefield just outside Montreal, Quebec.[9][20] Production offices for the film were set up at the old Charleston Naval Base in North Charleston.[21]
Much of the film's plot takes place in and around Seabrook Island, an actual town which is one of the South Carolina "sea islands." It is located 20 miles southwest of Charleston, South Carolina. However, none of the filming took place in the Seabrook area. The house that Noah is seen fixing up is a private residence at Wadmalaw Island, South Carolina,[22] which is another "sea island" locality situated 10 miles closer to Charleston. The house was not actually in a dilapidated state at any time, but it was made to look that way by special effects in the first half of the film. Contrary to the suggestion in the film's dialogue, neither the house nor the Seabrook area was home to South Carolina Revolutionary hero Francis Marion, whose plantation was actually located some distance northwest of Charleston.[23] The Boone Hall Plantation served as Allie's summer house.[22]
Many of the scenes set in Seabrook were filmed in the town of Mt. Pleasant, (a suburb of Charleston). Others were filmed in Charleston and in Edisto Island. The lake scenes were filmed at Cypress Gardens (in Moncks Corner, South Carolina)[22] with trained birds that were brought in from elsewhere.[24]
The nursing home scenes were filmed at Rice Hope Plantation,[25] located in Georgetown County, South Carolina. The college depicted briefly in the film is identified in the film as Sarah Lawrence College, but the campus that is seen is actually the College of Charleston.[22]
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ Staff (January 13, 1997). "Jacobson goes to London by the book". Variety. Retrieved April 2, 2015.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.
- ↑ Michael Fleming (April 6, 1998). "Spielberg scans 'Notebook'". Variety. Retrieved April 2, 2015.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Michael Fleming (March 22, 2001). "'Zorro' marks sequel". Variety. Retrieved April 1, 2015.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.
- ↑ Staff (March 10, 1999). "Sheridan may open Sparks' 'Notebook'". Variety. Retrieved April 1, 2015.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.
- ↑ Michael Fleming (May 19, 2000). "Inside Moves". Variety. Retrieved April 1, 2015.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.
- ↑ Dana Harris (March 6, 2002). "Cassavetes opens 'Notebook'". Variety. Retrieved April 2, 2015.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.
- ↑ Ravitz, Justin (December 12, 2011). "Ryan Gosling: Notebook Director Told Me I Wasn't "Handsome" or "Cool"".
- ↑ Pickle, Betsy (June 25, 2004). "'Notebook' Love Scenes were 'Embarrassing', says Actor".
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 "The Notebook Production Notes". Movies Central.
- ↑ "The Notebook Trivia" (August 26, 2004).
- ↑ "Jessica Biel: 'The Notebook' Is The Film That Got Away". The Huffington Post. November 2, 2011. Retrieved November 1, 2014.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.
- ↑ "Valentine's Flashback: 'The Notebook'" (in en-US). Entertainment Tonight.
- ↑ "Ten things you never knew about The Notebook". News.com.au (November 13, 2013).
- ↑ Wloszczyna, Susan (June 24, 2004). "Hot off 'The Notebook'". Gannett Company.
- ↑ Murray, Rebecca (2004). "Ryan Gosling Talks about "The Notebook"". About.com.
- ↑ Thompson, Bill (February 19, 2003). "'Notebook' pivotal for McAdams.".
- ↑ "The gossip's now over Rachel". Thefreelibrary.com (June 18, 2004).
- ↑ Deziel, Shanda (July 14, 2005). "Rachel's all the rage".
- ↑ "IGN INTERVIEWS RACHEL MCADAMS". IGN (June 23, 2004).
- ↑ "The Notebook film locations".
- ↑ "Movies Filmed in South Carolina – The Notebook". South Carolina's Information HighWAY.
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 McGuire, Judy (February 28, 2009). "Romance, Movie Style - Love on Location - The Notebook".
- ↑ "Francis Marion Foils the British". historynet.com.
- ↑ "Ryan Gosling Wanted To Kick Rachel McAdams Off The Notebook Set And More You Didn't Know About The Film". vh1.com.
- ↑ "Rice Hope Plantation – Oatland – Georgetown County".
External Links[]
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