George Clooney Almost Starred in ‘The Notebook’ with Paul Newman

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George Clooney has spilled the beans! According to the Golden Globe-winning actor, he nearly landed a role in The Notebook alongside the talented and late Paul Newman. While promoting his Netflix film The Midnight Sky, during a virtual chat for the 64th BFI London Film Festival, the 59-year-old recalled how he and Newman almost joined the 2004 romantic drama based on the Nicholas Sparks novel.

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According to Deadline, the actor stated, “We were going to do The Notebook together. Basically, I was going to play him as a young man, and it was funny. We met and said, ‘This is it. It’s going to be great.’” But, the actor noted he got cold feet after he went home and then watched some of Newman’s most iconic films. Newman died at the age of 83 in 2008 after a tragic long battle with cancer.

“The Notebook”

The Hollywood actor recalled, “He’s one of the handsomest guys you’ve ever seen. We met up again and I said, ‘I can’t play you. I don’t look anything like you. This is insane. We just wanted to do it because we wanted to work together, but it ended up being not the right thing for us to do.” So, nope, Clooney did not play the role of Noah Calhoun. The role was played by the handsome Ryan Gosling with James Garner playing the older version of him.

Rachel McAdams starred opposite Gosling as Allie Hamilton and Gena Rowlands acted opposite Garner as they recalled their epic love story. The film would later receive generally mixed reviews but performed well at the box office. It received a number of awards, including eight Teen Choice Awards, an MTV Movie Award, and a Satellite Award.

“The Midnight Sky”

The Midnight Sky is based on a novel by Lily Brooks-Dalton and was directed by Clooney himself. The movie follows his character, Augustine, who is a lonely scientist in the Arctic trying to stop a group of astronauts, who are led by Felicity Jones, from returning to search after there was a global catastrophe that decimated humanity. The film also stars David Oyelowo, Kyle Chandler, and Tiffany Boone. Clooney also recalled learning that Jones was pregnant while the crew and cast were filming in Iceland. Jones welcomed her first child with her husband Charles Guard just last month.

The Oscar winner stated, “I was in the middle of Iceland, really miserable, and she goes, ‘So, there’s news. I’m pregnant.’ I’m like, ‘Great.’ And then I go, ‘Okay, that complicates things. She was so gung-ho. She wanted to do all the wirework. But I was like ‘No, we’re not putting anyone pregnant on a wire.’” Ultimately the actor decided to revise the script so the actress’s character had gotten pregnant while in space. The change apparently gave them something to lean into for the end of the film, which he believed was a “bonus.” The Midnight Sun is currently streaming on Netflix.

Read More: George Clooney Once Gave 14 Friends $1 Million Each as a ‘Thank You’

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