Nick Cassavetes revealed a decade ago that Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling struggled to get along on the set of 2004’s “The Notebook.”
As the rom-com celebrates its 20th anniversary on June 25, the director, 65, expressed his regret for ever discussing their dynamic in a new interview.
“It caught me on a bad day, but if [McAdams and Gosling] are around, I apologize to you guys. I shouldn’t have spilled the beans,” he told Entertainment Weekly in a story published Tuesday.
In a 2014 interview with VH1, the director disclosed: “Maybe I’m not supposed to tell this story, but they were really not getting along one day on set. Really not.”
He recounted a moment when Gosling, 43, amidst a tense scene, requested McAdams, 45, to be replaced.
“Ryan came to me, and there’s 150 people standing in this big scene, and he says, ‘Nick come here.’ He’s doing a scene with Rachel and he says, ‘Would you take her out of here and bring in another actress to read off-camera with me?’” he recalled at the time. “‘I said, ‘What?’ He says, ‘I can’t. I can’t do it with her. I’m just not getting anything from this.’”
“[Later] we went into a room with a producer; they started screaming and yelling at each other,” he went on. “I walked out … And it got better after that, you know? They had it out … I think Ryan respected her for standing up for her character and Rachel was happy to get that out in the open. The rest of the film wasn’t smooth sailing, but it was smoother sailing.”
Despite their initial friction, the pair famously fell in love off screen and started dating shortly after the movie wrapped.
“They fell in love, and became a wonderful, wonderful fiery couple,” Cassavetes remarked to EW. “I still think they got lots of respect and love for each other, but in the beginning, it wasn’t like that.”
“The Notebook” initially had mixed reviews when it was released, only debuting at No. 4 at the box office. Since then, however, it’s become a beloved favorite, credited largely to the chemistry and performances of McAdams and Gosling.
“If you want to know why ‘The Notebook’ is considered kind of a romantic classic, the answers are Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, and that’s the beginning and the end of it,” Cassavetes said.
The film won the actors the MTV Award for Best Kiss in 2005. On stage, the couple engaged in a steamy kiss before accepting the golden popcorn statue.
The “Barbie” actor and “Mean Girls” actress would go on to split in 2007 after roughly two years together.
“The only thing I remember is we both went down swingin’ and we called it a draw,” Gosling told GQ Magazine of their breakup in 2007.
“God Bless ‘The Notebook,’” Gosling continued. “It introduced me to one of the great loves of my life. But people do Rachel and me a disservice by assuming we were anything like the people in that movie. Rachel and my love story is a hell of a lot more romantic than that.”
McAdams, meanwhile, confirmed there was “tension” on the set of “The Notebook” in a 2016 interview with Yahoo Movies UK for her role in “Doctor Strange.”
“We certainly had intense creative conversations [on The Notebook],” McAdams recalled.
She was then asked if she was dreading reuniting with Gosling considering their past. Marvel Studios was on the casting hunt at the time for the right actor to play Doctor Strange and there were rumors that Gosling could get the role.
She responded, “No! Not at all, I’d love to work with [Ryan] again. I didn’t know that [he was linked with Doctor Strange]. Benedict [Cumberbatch] was signed on when it came across my plate so he’s the only ever Doctor Strange I’ve known of.”
Gosling now has two daughters with actress Eva Mendes. McAdams, for her part, has a son and daughter with longtime partner Jamie Linden.
