The Notebook starring Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling is perhaps one of the most romantic films of all time.
But it is not only McAdams and Gosling who captured our hearts twenty years ago as Allie and Noah, but also Gena Rowlands and James Garner who play the couple in their twilight years.
On Tuesday, 20 years after The Notebook was released, director and Rowlands’ son Nick Cassavetes revealed that his mother had been living with Alzheimer’s for five years. This mirrors her character’s storyline in the hit film, based on the Nicholas Sparks film. novel.
But many fans may not know that the film, which grossed more than $117 million worldwide, was actually inspired by a true story.
Sparks revealed that he was inspired by his ex-wife’s grandparents and their epic love story when writing the story of the characters Noah Calhoun and Allie Hamilton.
The Notebook starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams was released twenty years ago and was based on a novel by Nicholas Sparks
Sparks revealed that Noah and Allie’s story was based on a real-life couple. Pictured here are James Garner and Gena Rowlands in the 2004 film
The Notebook tells the gripping love story between working-class Noah (played by Gosling) and wealthy Allie (McAdams), who fall deeply in love while defying social divides.
The 2004 film cuts between the unlikely couple’s passionate childhood and the present, in which an older Noah, disguised as “Duke,” reads their story from a notebook to a fellow nursing home resident — his wife, Allie (played by Gena Rowlands ), who has dementia.
Sparks revealed that the story was inspired by former wife Cathy’s grandparents, who also enjoyed a passionate summer romance but were separated by her grandmother’s strict parents.
Cathy’s grandmother subsequently became engaged to another man – just as Allie does in the film – but she never forgot Noah and eventually returned to him and the couple married.
“Cathy’s grandparents were a wonderful couple and in many ways their story [is The Notebook]Sparks told The Wall Street Journal in 2016.
A few years later, in 2021, the Herald-Tribune reported that Sparks told a crowd in Bradenton, Florida that his former wife’s grandparents met as teenagers and enjoyed a romance one summer.
“While I was trying to figure out what story to write, I got this one story, but I didn’t know if anyone would like it,” Sparks said.
“I thought it was quite sweet and it was a story I thought I could write… that story ended up being The Notebook.”
Rachel played the role of Allie Hamilton while Ryan played Noah Calhoun in the blockbuster film
Ryan, who is now a father of two, was just 23 years old when fans fell in love with him as Noah
Sparks revealed that the story was inspired by former wife Cathy’s grandparents. Sparks and ex-wife Cathy pictured in 2013
According to Sparks, Cathy’s great-grandparents separated their daughter from her new love at the end of the summer they met.
But just like Noah’s character, Cathy’s grandfather didn’t give up and continued to write love letters to her grandmother every day.
‘They were separated for years and she [got] engaged and her [came] back and her [fell] in love,” Sparks added to the WSJ.
Sparks never revealed the real names of his ex-wife’s grandparents, but he did confirm that Noah’s dedication to reading Allie the story of their lives to bring back her memories was also inspired by his ex-grandfather.
“Towards the end of her life, she [got] dementia… and he is with her and shows her… drawings and pictures,” he explained.
“He didn’t have a notebook, but it was an album that he would guide her through and tell her about their life together. I just thought there was something really beautiful about that whole concept and that’s why I tried to do it in The Notebook,” Sparks added.
It is not known exactly how long Cathy’s grandparents were together, but they were in a relationship for more than 60 years.
Gena Rowlands, who played an older Allie in the film, has revealed that she has Alzheimer’s disease
The Notebook was released in the US on June 25, 2004 and grossed over $117 million worldwide.
Sparks wrote about the real-life couple on his website: ‘What I remember most… is the way they interacted with each other. The way his eyes shined when he looked at her, the way he held her hand, the way he got her tea and took care of her.
“I remember seeing them together and thinking to myself that these two people treated each other after sixty years of marriage exactly the same as my wife and I treated each other after twelve hours. [of marriage].’
As it was 20 years since the film was first released, 94-year-old Rowlands’ family revealed that – like her character – she had been suffering from Alzheimer’s for five years and was now ‘in full dementia’.
The heartbreaking health update was announced by her son Cassavetes Entertainment weekly.
Cassavetes said, “I had my mom play the older Allie, and we spent a lot of time talking about Alzheimer’s and wanting to be authentic with it, and now, for the past five years, she has had Alzheimer’s.
‘She has complete dementia. And it’s so crazy – we lived it, she played it, and now it’s up to us.”
In a 2004 interview with O Magazine, Rowlands talked about how her mother’s battle with the disease influenced her decision to play Allie.
“I went through that with my mom, and if Nick hadn’t directed the movie, I don’t think I would have gone for it; it’s just too hard. It was a tough but beautiful film.’