George Clooney Says He Nearly Starred In "The Notebook"

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George Clooney, The Notebook

George Clooney explains why he turned down the starring role in "The Notebook."

George Clooney says he almost starred in The Notebook, but ultimately turned down the role. The role was eventually given to Ryan Gosling.

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"I was going to do a movie years ago called The Notebook, that Ryan Gosling actually did, and I was going to do it with Paul Newman. I was playing the flashback and Paul Newman was the old guy,” Clooney told EW while promoting his upcoming film The Midnight Sky.

Both Clooney and Newman ended up turning down their respective roles. While Gosling took over Clooney’s role, James Garner was cast in the role that would have gone to Newman.

"Paul and I talked about doing it, and we were sitting there one day and I was looking at him and I go, 'I can't do this movie, Paul,'" Clooney remembered. "He was like. 'Why?' I was like, 'Because everybody knows what you look like at 30 years old. You got blue eyes, I got brown eyes. You're too famous at 30 for me to be playing you at 30, it's never gonna work.' And he's like, 'I guess you're right.'

"We bailed out and I think 10 years later they made it."

The Midnight Sky is scheduled to be released on Netflix in December 2020.

[Via]


About The Author
Cole Blake is currently an Editor at HotNewHipHop based out of Brooklyn, New York. He began working at the site as an intern back in 2018 while studying journalism at St. John’s University. In the time since, he’s graduated with a bachelor's degree and written extensively about a wide range of topics including pop culture, film & television, politics, video games, sports, and much more. He’s also covered music festivals such as Gov. Ball and Rolling Loud. You can find him publishing work for HNHH from Monday to Wednesday or on weekends. On the sports front, Cole’s a passionate NBA and NFL fan with his favorite teams being the Indianapolis Colts and Los Angeles Lakers. He also roots for the Yankees whenever he finds himself at Yankee Stadium or the Red Storm when in the company of other SJU alumni. His favorite hip-hop artists are billy woods, Earl Sweatshirt, Cam’ron, MIKE, and Mach-Hommy.