The Notebook Author Explains Why Nobody Wanted To Play Noah (Except Ryan Gosling)

'It was incredibly hard to find an actor willing to play him’

The author of The Notebook has admitted that nobody wanted to play Noah because his character arc was boring.

Ryan Gosling got the role because, well, he had no competition.

In an interview with IMDB, Nicholas Sparks, who penned the romantic novel in 1996 explained that when they came to cast the film some eight years later ‘No one wanted to play Noah. It was incredibly hard to find an actor willing to play him’

Thanks be to Ryan Gosling who swooped in, real-world-hero style and transformed Noah in to an absolute dreamboat. Gosling’s interpretation of Noah made hearts everywhere do achey-breaky things.

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So why didn’t any other actor’s spot the character’s potential? ‘It was really interesting because a lot of the actors said, ‘Well, what’s Noah’s arc?’" said Sparks ‘It’s a guy who falls in love and then he just kinda does nothing, and then waits for her to show up and then he’s there and he’s still in love and then at the end of the film, well, he’s still in love. Where’s the arc?’

Yup, that’s the author admitting that the character was not well written.

At this point we feel it’s pertinent to remind ourselves that Noah doesn’t literally sit around and do nothing, he builds a very nice house while pining for his love.

Sparks went on to sing Ryan Gosling’s praises: ‘Ryan Gosling came in and he really brought that story to life… He and Nick Cassavetes, the director, and of course all of the screenwriters, came in and we were amazed what they were able to do with it.’

In 2011, Gosling told Company magazine that Cassavetes had been very straight with him when describing why he wanted him for the role:

'[Director] Nick Cassavetes called me to meet him at his house. When I got there, he was standing in his backyard, and he looked at me and said, ‘I want you to play this role because you’re not like the other young actors out there in Hollywood. You’re not handsome, you’re not cool, you’re just a regular guy who looks a bit nuts.’'