We can't imagine The Notebook without Ryan Gosling playing iconic character Noah Calhoun. But apparently, the role very nearly went to George Clooney instead.
George, 59, revealed the mindblowing news during an interview with Deadline, explaining that he had originally been lined up to play the part that later went to Ryan.
George explained that he was all set to do the film along with pal Paul Newman (who was going to play older Noah). But the pair soon realised they looked nothing alike and therefore decided against it.
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"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'," he said.
"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."
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Of course, the role later went to Ryan Gosling, who starred alongside Rachel McAdams as Allie Hamilton. Meanwhile, older Allie was played by Gena Rowlands.
Ryan has previously spoken about how he landed the part of Noah, explaining to Company mag back in 2012 that director Nick Cassavetes described him as "just a regular guy who looked a bit nuts".
"[Cassavettes] called me to meet him at his house," he said.
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"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'."
Thank goodness he did - we just can't imagine The Notebook without Ryan.
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