Yet another iconic movie could have been added to George Clooney’s list of accomplishments! According to the actor, he, alongside none other than Paul Newman nearly starred in the romantic film, The Notebook!
Here’s why that ended up not happening after all!
During a virtual chat at the 64th BFI London Film Festival yesterday, the Midnight Sky director revealed that he was super close to being part of The Notebook’s cast of actors.
Not only that but also, Paul Newman was going to be part of it as well!
‘We were going to do The Notebook together. Basically, I was going to play him as a younger man, and it was so funny. We met and said, ‘This is it. It is going to be great.’ He is one of the handsomest guys you have ever seen. We met up [once again] and I said, ‘I cannot play you. I do not look anything like you. It’s insane.’ We wanted to do it just because we wanted to work together, but it ended up not being the right thing for us to do,’ Clooney explained as per Deadline.
As fans know, in the end, it was actually Ryan Gosling who masterfully portrayed Noah Calhoun, James Garner taking on the older version of the character.
But even though George and Paul did not get to star in The Notebook, he did share a story about Leatherheads and how that related to the actor.
‘We had a very funny relationship, later in life for him. I directed a film that completely bombed called Leatherheads. Paul Newman was still racing at the time, and he raced a car and crashed it. So, he took a picture of Leatherheads, superimposed it on the crashed car, and said, ‘I was driving your car in the race,’’ George shared.
Paul Newman passed away at the age of 83 in 2008 after battling cancer.