The Notebook is a 2004 American drama film starring Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, James Garner, Gena Rowlands, and Joan Allen. The film won 11 different awards; An old man in a nursing home named Doc is reading a romantic story from his notebook to a sick roommate. The story is set in Seabrook Island, South Carolina, and is about a young man named Noah Calhoun who falls in love with a girl named Allie Hamilton after seeing her at a carnival. Noah takes the girl to an abandoned house he intends to buy for them. He then tries to have sex with her, but Finn interrupts them and tells them that Allie's parents have called the police to search for her. When Allie and Noah return to her mother's mansion, Allie's mother curses Noah and forbids Allie from seeing Noah. Noah leaves and Allie quickly follows him. The argument ends in a breakup and the next morning, Anne announces that the family will be moving back to their old home in Charleston. Allie tries to contact Noah but is unable to find him, so she asks Finn to tell Noah that she loves him. When Noah receives the message, he rushes to Noah writes to Allie every day for a year, but Allie's mother intercepts the letters and they never reach Allie. Noah and Finn volunteer to fight in World War II, and Finn is killed in battle. Allie also volunteers to work at a hospital for wounded soldiers, where she meets Officer Lon Hammond and the two become engaged, much to Allie's parents' delight. Noah returns from the war and finds that his father has sold their house so that Noah can buy the abandoned house. When he visits Charleston, he sees Allie and Lon kissing in a restaurant. He convinces himself that if he gets the house back, Allie will come back to him. Allie is surprised to read in the newspaper that Noah has completed the house according to the specifications she set years ago. Allie returns to Seabrook Island to find Noah living in the reclaimed house. The two renew their relationship. In the morning, Anne comes to Noah's house and warns Allie that Lon has followed her to Seabrook. Anne gives Allie the letters Noah wrote to her, and admits that she hid them from her. Allie confesses to Lon that she was spending Time with Noah and that she should have been with him, but she is still indecisive. In the present, it is revealed that the old lady is Allie, who is suffering from dementia. Duke is actually Noah, her husband, but Allie does not remember him or any of the events that Noah reads to her. Allie briefly becomes lucid, and remembers that the story that Duke is reading is the story of their meeting. Duke tells her how she showed up on his doorstep with her luggage, after leaving Lon at the hotel, and suddenly Allie remembers her past. In the early stages of dementia, Allie wrote down their love story in a notebook and instructed Noah to "Read this to me, and I will come back to you." However, Allie soon returns to her dementia and loses her memories of Noah. She panics and does not know who he is, and the doctors sedate her. Duke is actually Noah, hospitalized for a heart attack. When he is released from the hospital, Noah visits Allie and finds her lucid again. Allie is terrified by her dementia and asks Noah what she would do if she lost her memories to Forever. Noah reassures her that he will never leave her even if she succumbs to dementia. After telling each other he loves him, the two go to sleep in an automated bed. The next morning, a nurse finds them both dead in the bed. New Line Cinema acquired the rights to Nicholas Sparks' novel in 1996, represented by producer Mark Johnson. Jeremy Levine was hired to write the screenplay, which caught the attention of director Steven Spielberg in 1998, who wanted to film it with Tom Cruise as Noah Calhoun. Spielberg's commitment to other projects led to Jim Sheridan being attached to direct the following year. Filming was scheduled to begin in 1999 but was delayed in the rewrite phase. Sheridan eventually backed out by October 2000 to work on In America. Martin Campbell entered negotiations to direct the film in March 2001, before Nick Cassavetes replaced him a year later. Cassavetes wanted someone unknown and "unhandsome" to play Noah; So Ryan cast Gosling in the role. Gosling was initially surprised by this: "I read the script and thought, 'This is crazy. I couldn't be more wrong with this movie. ' It gave me a chance to play over a period of time—from 1940 to 1946—that was so profound and formative." To prepare for the part, Gosling temporarily moved to Charleston, South Carolina, for two months before filming, canoeing the Ashley River and making furniture. A nationwide search was conducted to find the right actress to play Allie. Actresses who auditioned for the role included Jessica Biel, Britney Spears, Ashley Judd, and Reese Witherspoon, and Rachel McAdams was eventually chosen. Upon her casting, Cassavetes said, "When Rachel McAdams came in and read the script, it was clear that she and Ryan had a great understanding." She commented, "I thought it would be a dream to be able to do that. I read the script and went to the audition two days later." "Just. It was a good way to do it, because I was immersed in the story," Gosling commented. "I think it's fair to say that we probably wouldn't have made the movie if we hadn't found Rachel... Really, Ali is leading the movie. It's her movie and we're in it. It's all about the actress." Compared to the book, the role was extended. McAdams spent time in Charleston, the setting, before filming to familiarize herself with the surroundings, taking ballet and etiquette lessons. She had a dialect coach to learn the Southern accent. The Notebook was shot mostly on location in South Carolina, in late 2002 and early 2003, in addition to the winter battlefield outside Montreal, Quebec. The film's production offices were set up at the old Charleston Naval Base in North Charleston. Much of the film's plot takes place on and around Seabrook Island, an actual city that is one of South Carolina's "Sea Islands." It is located 20 miles southwest of Charleston, South Carolina. However, none of the filming took place in the area. Seabrook. The house that Noah is seen restoring is a private residence on Wadmalaw Island, South Carolina, another "sea island" area located 10 miles from Charleston. The house was never actually dilapidated, but was made to look that way by special effects in the first half of the film. Contrary to what is stated in the film's dialogue, neither the house nor the Seabrook area was home to South Carolina Revolutionary hero Francis Mario, whose plantation was actually located some distance northwest of Charleston. The Boone Hall Plantation served as Allie's summer home. Many of the scenes in Seabrook were filmed in the town of Mount Pleasant. Others were filmed in Charleston and on Edisto Island. The lake scenes were filmed at Cypress Gardens with trained birds brought in from elsewhere. The nursing home scenes were filmed at Rice Hope Plantation, located in Georgetown County, South Carolina. The college briefly depicted in the film is identified as Sarah Lawrence College, but the campus seen is actually the College of Charleston. The film premiered on June 25, 2009. The Notebook was released in 2004 in the United States and Canada and grossed $13,464,745 in 2,303 theaters in its opening weekend, ranking fourth at the box office. The film grossed approximately $115,603,229 worldwide, $81,001,787 in Canada and the United States, and $34,601,442 in other countries. It is the fifteenth-highest-grossing romantic drama film of all time. The Notebook received mixed reviews from film critics. The 178 reviews on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes show that 53% of critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 5.64/10. The site's consensus is that "It's hard not to admire its unabashed sentimentality, but The Notebook is too clumsy to rise above the stereotypical melodramatic cliché." On Metacritic, which assigns an average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, it holds a "generally favorable" rating. The film currently has an average score of 53, based on 34 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times praised the film, giving it three and a half stars out of four, calling the photography "stunning with its rich, saturated effects," and stating that "the actors are blessed with good material." Peter Lowery of Threat gave the film three and a half stars out of five. He praised the performances of both Gosling and McAdams, writing, "Gosling and especially McAdams give all-star performances, doing enough to hand the reins over to the professionals, who take the rest of the film and end the audience with some effects scenes that won't leave a dry eye in the house." Of the film itself, he added, "Overall, The Notebook is a surprisingly good film that succeeds where so many romances fail." Stephen Holden of The New York Times gave the film a positive review, noting that "the scenes between young lovers confronting adult authority have the same simmering tension and hysteria that young Warren Beatty and Natalie Wood brought to the screen more than 40 years ago." "Years. The roles are in the splendor of the grass." Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post also gave the film a positive review, praising Gosling and McAdams' performances, saying, "It doesn't matter that McAdams and Gosling don't remind us of America in the 1940s. They're both appropriate and engaging, with Gosling, who made his screen debut largely unseen in the 2001 drama The Believer, particularly convincing as a young man who pushes past a girl's toughest defenses." Of the film, she added, "Audiences craving a big, gooey romance have a summer must-see in The Notebook." William Arnold of the Seattle Post-Informer praised McAdams' performance but criticized Gosling's, stating that "she just doesn't have the kind of star power or chemistry with McAdams to anchor the kind of small-group ensemble that Gone with the Wind does." He also added that the film "doesn't quite work on its own terms, mainly because its romantic choice doesn't shine: it doesn't make us fall in love with its lovers." Wesley Morris of The Boston Globe gave the film two and a half stars, praising the performances of its cast members, and writing of McAdams that she is "deeply committed to the story and deeply concerned with the other actors." “Gosling is adept at playing the impregnable sociopath, and there’s reason to believe, early on, that Noah might be the same way, as when he threatens to fall off a Ferris wheel unless Allie agrees to go on a date with him,” he wrote of the film. “Considering the sunny, relatively fun romance that precedes it, Old Men feels bleak, creepy, and forced upon us,” he wrote. Jessica Winter of The Village Voice gave the film a mixed review, saying, “Amid the slimy mire of Jeremy Levine’s screenplay, Rowlands and Garner emerge clean and cheerful, lending a wonderful authenticity to watching them together. These two old pros emerge cleanly through the thicket of tearful dialogue, identifying the horror and the written retreat from the cruel betrayal of a failing mind.” Robert Koehler of Variety also gave the film a mixed review, however, praising the performance, writing that “Gosling is indeed one of the most exciting young minds in the film.” Interestingly, it expands its scope to include pure romance without sacrificing some of its naturally subversive qualities, and even seems comfortable in a pretty American masculine way. What's interesting is McAdams, who does such a different take on her meanness in Mean Girls that it's hard to tell they're the same actor. She skillfully carries much of the emotional weight of the film in a free-spirited, easy-going way." In June 2010, Entertainment Weekly included Allie and Noah on its list of "The 100 Greatest Characters of the Past 20 Years." The magazine included The Notebook on its list of the 25 Sexiest Movies of All Time. Us Weekly listed the film as one of the 30 Greatest Romances of All Time. Boston.com ranked the film as the third-best romantic film. The Notebook appeared on Moviefone's list of the 25 Greatest Romances of All Time. Marie Claire also placed the film on its list of the 12 Greatest Romantic Scenes of All Time. In 2011, The Notebook was named Best Picture. During the ABC News and People Television Special, the film was named the greatest movie of our time. The scene where Noah climbs the Ferris wheel because he wants a date was named the most romantic movie moment of all time. The Kiss in the Rain scene ranked 4th in the overall Top 50 Movie Scenes. The Notebook was released on VHS and DVD on February 8, 2005, and on Blu-ray on May 4, 2010. By February 2010, the film had sold over 11 million copies on DVD. In February 2019, subscribers to the UK version of Netflix reported that the version of the film on the streaming service had an alternate ending, which replaced a more tender score than the original release's emotional ending. Netflix responded that this alternate version of the film had been made available to them in error, and quickly replaced it with the original version. The soundtrack was released on June 8, 2004. This is a list of songs in the film: On August 11, 2015, it was reported that a television series was in development by The The CW series will follow Noah and Allie's engagement following the events of the film, and in a post-World War II world. As of 2020, it has yet to air. On January 3, 2019, it was announced that The Notebook would be adapted into a Broadway musical with a book by Becca Brunstetter and music and lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson. Sparks will also serve as a producer alongside Kevin McCollum and Kurt Deutsch.